I collapsed onto the bed as I struggled to catch my breath. He held my hips up as he continued to pump into me several more times before he stilled. I listened to his ragged breathing as he stayed inside of me. We remained like that for several moments before he slid free. He let out a long sigh as he ran his hand down the inside of my legs.

  The wet gush. My eyes flew open as I remembered it now. I’d been so far gone that I didn’t care. But now…what was that?

  “Easy, sweets,” he said gently. “I’m not gonna fuck you again. Yet. I just want to taste it.”

  Taste it? I turned my head and looked back at him, not sure if my legs could hold me just yet without the bed’s support. He was licking his fingers when his eyes met mine, and he grinned.

  “We’re gonna have to do that again when my face is down there.”

  “What?” I croaked.

  “You’re gonna squirt on my face. I didn’t know you could do that. You were holding back on me.”

  I moved then, flipping over to sit on the bed. “What do you mean?”

  He stood there with his finger still in his mouth as he studied me. I watched as he let it pop free of his lips.

  “Was that the first time you squirted?” he asked me with a pleased look in his eyes.

  I shook my head. “I don’t know. What do you mean, squirted?”

  A slow grin spread across his face, and he bit his bottom lip, then groaned. “Fuck.”

  I waited for him to say more, but he reached for the robe and picked it up, then wrapped it around me before dropping down to his haunches so that we were eye level.

  “Your cunt ejaculated. It’s not common, and most females find out they do it when they orgasm during sex the first time.”

  My eyes went wide. “Ejaculated…like…like a man?” I asked, horrified.

  King chuckled and ran his hand inside my legs. “No, sweets. Nothing about that was like a man. It was fucking hot. The fact that you did it from me spanking you…” He stopped and shook his head. “We gotta stop talking about it. I’m gonna want to put you over my knee.”

  I opened my mouth and closed it. Had he just said that?

  King stood back up. “I need to feed you,” he said. “Then bathe you. If I have to smell sex on you all day, I won’t be able to keep my hands off you.”

  This was not how I had expected our conversation to go.

  Nothing about this would lead to something good. It would be bad. Especially for me when I had to walk away. Leave.

  This was going to be one of the things in life I shouldn’t have done, but I was going to do it anyway.

  • thirty-one •

  “She’s got a magic pussy.”

  King

  “Who’s here?” Rumor asked me when I pulled the truck up beside my dad’s matte-black Range Rover outside Maeme’s house.

  “My father,” I replied, glancing over at her. “He wanted to talk to me about some business before we go for a ride.”

  And Maeme wanted to set eyes on Rumor and make sure I hadn’t done anything to upset her. She wasn’t happy about Blaise’s orders, but he was the boss.

  Rumor fidgeted with the hem of her shorts nervously.

  I reached over and covered her hands with one of mine. “What’s wrong?”

  She glanced up at me. “I…I feel like they will know.”

  They knew all right. They all fucking knew. I hated it. I hated that I had to lie to her. That was all I hated. The rest was…well, I wasn’t so upset with Blaise anymore. There were some things a man could get over. Especially when he’d had the best sex of his life and he got to do it again. And again.

  “They know you were scared last night. Do you really think that they are gonna believe I got between those pretty legs of yours when you’d been traumatized?”

  She stared at me and thought about it. The relief in her green eyes had me wanting to grab her face and kiss those soft lips. I wasn’t going to do it because I had to keep some lines drawn. I didn’t want her hurt. I would do whatever I could to protect her. I didn’t want her to get emotionally attached to me. I just wasn’t sure how I was supposed to pull that off. Kissing when we weren’t fucking was definitely a bad thing. That I knew.

  “Let’s go,” I said, opening my door and getting the hell out of this truck and the temptation to get a taste of her mouth again.

  By the time I reached her side, she had opened the door and was starting to get down. I’d blurred some lines now, and I figured picking her up to get her out was okay. It wasn’t kissing. It would be fine. Besides, the smile that touched her lips when I did it made me feel like I’d won some prize. Which I had. Her hot little body.

  I let her go and closed the door. “Let’s go. Maeme is worried about you after last night. She’s ready to see you and check to make sure you’re okay.” That was half the truth. Not a complete lie.

  She nodded, and I headed for the house as she fell into step beside me. This was easier when we were locked up in my room at the stables. The lies, deceit, and manipulation weren’t there. It was just us. Facing my father and Maeme was just going to remind me how this was not something I got to keep.

  Keep? Where the hell had that come from? I hadn’t meant keep. Not keep. Just…have longer.

  The door to the house swung open, and Birdie came running out with her long black hair flying wildly behind her. She had my eyes. They were Salazar blue, as Maeme called it. In fact, she looked very little like Jupiter. The Salazar DNA was strong.

  “KING!” she squealed just before hurling her tiny body into my arms.

  I had stopped and bent down to catch her, prepared for it. As I swung her in a circle, she laughed happily before I slowed, then placed her back on her own two feet.

  “Hey, my Birdie girl,” I said and ruffled her hair. “This is my friend Rumor.”

  I turned to Rumor then and saw a soft smile on her face as she looked at Birdie. “Rumor, this is Birdie. My little sister I told you about.”

  Rumor held out her hand to Birdie. “It’s very nice to meet you,” she said.

  Birdie scanned her up and down, then studied her hand before sticking her smaller one into it. “You are really pretty,” Birdie said, staring up at her.

  Rumor squatted down so she was eye level with Birdie. “I was just thinking about how beautiful you are. You look like a little girl version of your brother.”

  Birdie beamed at her. “That’s cause Salazar NDA is superior.”

  “That’s DNA,” I corrected her, chuckling.

  Rumor nodded. “I can see that.”

  Birdie smiled, pleased by her response. “I like your hair. Mine won’t curl, but yours is like my favorite American Girl doll, Evette.”

  “That’s high praise,” I told Rumor, who tilted her head back and smiled up at me before standing back up.

  “I can’t brush her hair though, or it will ruin her curls. I did it once, and Mommy had to take it to get it fixed at the American Girl store. Can you brush your hair?” Birdie asked, frowning. “I hate brushing my hair.”

  “I can’t use a brush,” Rumor told her. “I have to use a special spray or just some water and a comb.”

  “Can I show you to my Maeme?” Birdie asked, completely forgetting my presence, which never happened. I’d hung the moon, where my little sister was concerned.

  “She’s met Maeme,” I told Birdie. “But she is here to visit her, so why don’t we go inside?”

  Birdie reached up and took Rumor’s hand again. “Come on. I know where she is,” she told her and began to lead Rumor to the house.

  I followed them inside, listening to Birdie tell Rumor about her American Girl doll collection, wondering if I should rescue her or if she was enjoying herself.

  “There you are!” Maeme called out, walking from the kitchen, drying her hands on her apron. “I see you met Birdie.”

  “I have indeed had the pleasure,” Rumor informed her.

  Maeme glanced at me, but only barely. It was enough for me to know that my father, Stellan, and Thatcher were in the basement, waiting on me.

  “I need to go find Dad,” I said, and Rumor turned to look back at me. “I’ll leave you with these two.”

  “Come now and help Birdie and me decorate the cupcakes that just finished cooling,” Maeme said to her, waving the two of them toward the kitchen.

  I left them there and headed for the back staircase. Last night’s incident had been more than I let on with Rumor. The man they had underground right now, being watched by Storm and Wells, had finally talked after Thatcher got ahold of him. I didn’t have all the details, and I knew I needed them. Especially since it was connected to Rumor.

  Stepping into the sitting area in the basement, I found my father on the far-right sofa with one ankle propped on a knee as he leaned back, staring at me. I glanced over at Stellan, who was smoking a cigar on the middle sofa and looking at his phone. Thatcher was already drinking as he leaned against the bar.

  “Took you long enough,” Dad said, annoyed.

  I shrugged. “I’m here.”

  “She’s a good fuck, isn’t she?” Thatcher asked me with a smirk.

  I shot him a warning glare and took the sofa across from my father.

  “Seems we weren’t the only people Churchill Millroe tried to fuck over. He sold some other real estate that wasn’t his to sell and took the profit. Since his disappearance, those wronged are finding out that they no longer own things that they didn’t sell. Their signatures were forged. Most of them will handle it the legal way, although they will never find him.

  “But it seems two grocery stores owned by the Insantos, used for laundering their drug money since that’s their MO, were sold by Millroe to a luxury food chain company in England. They want to open some of their stores in the US and have bought three buildings in the Southeast, as well as three on the West Coast and two in the Midwest. Two of the ones in the Southeast, however, belonged to the Insantos. They tracked Rumor here, but we don’t know how. The man is claiming he doesn’t know. He was sent here to see if the informant was lying or not. He said they don’t want her dead. They want her alive because they believe she has information.” Stellan stopped talking then and stared at me hard as I let all this sink in.

  If Millroe wasn’t already dead, I’d go put a gun in his mouth and blow his motherfucking brains out for this.

  “We make sure the Insantos know she is clueless, and we keep her here,” I stated before either he or my father could tell me the plan. No other plan was going to work for me.

  My father dropped his propped-up foot to the ground and leaned forward, looking hard at me. “It’s the Insantos. They are out three million, and you think we can just tell them she knows nothing and they’ll walk away? They are looking for her husband. We killed him. They think she will lead them to him.”

  I stood back up, needing to move. “Well, we tell them we killed his sorry ass and she knows nothing.”

  “She’s got a magic pussy,” Thatcher drawled. “Shoulda let me do it.”

  “Thatcher!” Stellan shouted as I clenched my fists at my sides.

  “This has nothing to do with her pussy,” I told him, wanting to put my fist through his smug face. “She’s innocent. She was beaten by that bastard, and all she wants is to be free. Live a normal, SAFE life. That’s what I want her to have.”

  “Away from here? You gonna let her give her cunt to someone else?” Thatcher asked, then took a drink from his glass.

  “That’s enough!” my dad said, standing up. “We are waiting on Blaise to make the call. He will decide what we do. You know that. But for now, she needs to stay with you. In the stables. It’s safer than the cottage. Now that they are looking for her, she has to be kept out of sight.”

  “Fine. She stays in my room. I’ll keep her safe. Out of sight,” I replied, feeling a small ounce of relief.

  “With your dick shoved in her many holes,” Thatcher said.

  “I’m this fucking close,” I warned him.

  He swirled his glass. “To what?”

  “BOYS!” Stellan said, holding out a hand to both of us. “Enough.”

  I turned my attention back to Stellan. “I was going to take her riding today.”

  He shook his head. “Not today. We are adding more security. Keep her inside the stables. Bring her into the house. Use the theater, the pool. Sebastian said she loves books. Take her to the library. Whatever. Just not out in the open.”

  “Fine,” I replied, ready to get out of here and back to Rumor.

  I didn’t like this. I didn’t want to sit and wait on Blaise to make a call on our next move. He didn’t know her. She was just a woman he wanted us to do right by since we had killed her abusive husband. She was more than that. She wasn’t expendable. We were her family. She had no one else.

  “Fuck her, son, but don’t get attached,” my father warned me.

  “Too late,” Thatcher drawled over his glass.

  I turned and left the room before I took a swing at him and ended up with his knife at my throat. Crazy fucker pushed me too far sometimes. This was one of those times.

  Taking the stairs two at a time, I got back to the main floor and followed the sound of Birdie’s giggling coming from the kitchen.

  I had to help Rumor. Save her. I wasn’t going to let anyone put her in front of the fucking Insantos gang. We’d never had a run-in with them, and as far as I knew their leader, Falcon Socorro, wasn’t a pleasant man. They would get nowhere near her. Last night had been as close as it was going to ever get. They could all go fuck themselves.

  When I walked into the kitchen, my chest eased slightly at the sight of Birdie standing on a stool, bent over a cupcake with a squeeze tube of icing, while Rumor slowly turned it for her. Pink icing was on her nose, and Birdie held up the tube in her hands to squirt some on her cheek this time. Rumor threw her head back and laughed. I stilled, watching her.

  I’d never heard her laugh like that before. It was…it was…no. I shook my head. I wasn’t getting sappy and shit. She had a great laugh. One she needed to do more often. I wondered how long it had been since she’d laughed that way.

  She turned her head then, and her green eyes locked on mine. The sparkle in them was almost painful. She was happy. The constant uncertainty and shade of fear that never seemed to leave her was gone. I wanted her like this all the time. She deserved it. If anyone deserved it, she did. I just didn’t know how the fuck I was going to give that to her.

  She was being lied to every day by people she was starting to trust. Me. Maeme. Even Sebastian. I hated it.

  “Hey.” Her smile began to fade as she studied me, and I quickly saved it by smiling. The one I had perfected in childhood.

  “You look good in pink,” I told her.

  She laughed again, but not as carefree as before. There was tension in her shoulders. She was worried. I’d unintentionally put it there. I kept fucking up with her.

  “We made Barbie cupcakes!” Birdie announced happily. “Eat one.”

  I walked over to see the dozen cupcakes that were covered in pink icing with a white B in the center. “It’s not very manly. Not sure I can eat that,” I teased her.

  Birdie placed a hand on her hip. “Don’t be stupid.”

  “Birdie!” Maeme scolded as she walked into the room. “I have told you that ladies do not say stupid.”

  Birdie lifted her shoulders in a shrug. “And I told you that I am not a lady yet, Maeme.”

  I cut my eyes over to see Rumor pressing her lips together to keep from laughing. I wished she would. I wanted to hear it again.

  • thirty-two •

  “You have a dirty mouth.”

  Rumor

  King stood at the door of the cottage as if he was guarding it.

  “Do I just get a few things? How long do I need to stay at the stables?” I asked him, still not sure I believed his reason.

  He seemed tense, and the way he kept scanning the area, as if he was ready for someone to jump out with a gun and start shooting, was making me nervous.

  “Put all your things in the suitcase,” he said, taking one more look out over the property before closing the door and locking it. He turned to me then and nodded his head toward the bedroom. “I’ll help you. Come on.”

  I pointed at the fridge. “What about the food? It’ll go bad.”

  “I’ll send someone to get it. You just worry about your things.”

  He made his way toward me and smiled. It wasn’t his real smile. He was on edge and trying to cover it up.

  “Maybe it’s time you take me to a bus stop,” I suggested.

  He froze and stepped closer to me. “No. Pack your things, sweets. You’re going to the stables. My room. Not a fucking bus station.”

  “This is about me. You’re lying. The shooter was after me. Hill has someone looking for me, doesn’t he? I’m bringing this all to your door. To Maeme’s door.” As I said the words, I saw the truth in his eyes. I was right. They were hiding me. Trying to protect me. I shook my head. “NO! I am leaving. I will not have you or Maeme shot because of me. I don’t want this. I won’t stay here!” Panic was rising in my chest as I said the words. Fear for the people who had helped me. Fear that I might not live another day.

  I had to run. There was no other answer. My time was up.

  He reached out and wrapped his fingers around my arm. “You aren’t leaving. We are safe. You will be safe. Here. With me,” King said through clenched teeth.

  I tried to pull my arm free of his grip. “I can’t stay here!”

  King’s much larger body backed me up until my back hit the wall. “You will do as I say, Rumor. You’re gonna pack your things and get in my truck. We’re going to the stables.”

  Tears filled my eyes. “I don’t want to be here.”