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Coulda, shoulda, woulda.There is literally no reason to dwell on the what ifs since we can’t change the past. All we can do now is make up for lost time.

And that starts right now, with the way Brix leans forward and practically folds himself in half to claim my lips as he pumps into me, each time his pubic bone pressing against my clit as those piercings rub along the sensitive, slick inner walls of my pussy.

“Fuck. Brix,” I moan out as the tightly stretched rubber band of pleasure snaps loose and I come.Hard.

“That’s right, baby. Give me another one,” he says, picking up his pace, driving into me harder, deeper, faster.

“Brix,” I cry out as his thrusts force the orgasm to stretch on and on until I’m breathless and my heart is racing. It feels like I’m seconds away from either having a heart attack or passing out.

Really, though, if I die now…what a fucking way to go.

Chapter 13

Everest

Like he promised – or threatened – Brix wrung orgasm after orgasm from my body.

Now, we’re lying in a huge garden tub in a bathroom bigger than my apartment in Georgia.

Leaning my head against his shoulder, I roll it and look into his face. “I don’t really care about any of the crap back at my apartment, but there’s a lot of money—”

“Kato sent someone after it,” Brix answers, his eyes closed, his head resting against the side of the tub.

His tone is no longer the sweet one he’d been using.

“What?” I ask, sitting up and putting a little space between us.

When he opens his eyes, that hard look is back, and my heart stutters. No way was this an act to fuck me. He could have done that any time he wanted. If they really planned to make me Kato’s wife, planned to keep me locked away in the estate, it isn’t like they had any intentions of asking what I wanted.

“I don’t like the way you earned the money,” he admits after a few seconds, and relief nearly steals my breath.

“Not all that cash was earned…that way.”

“The bulk of it was earned by dancing for one of our guards.”

I frown at him and chew on my bottom lip.

“What?” He sits up and reaches for me, trying to drag me back against his chest, but I’m not willing to let this conversation go.

“What do you mean, one of your guards?”The dude who paid me all that cash to dance with my clothes on while recording me.“Did you send someone to spy on me?”

“Not spy. Confirm. We found out where you might be working, but we needed proof it was you.”

His eyes stay glued to my face and the hardness is still in his eyes, but he hasn’t released his hold on my wrist, as though refusing to allow me to put any more space between us.

“Then how did you know where I lived?” Because at no point had I ever revealed where my apartment was to anyone, not my coworkers, not my employers. No one.

He snorts a sound and makes a face like it should be obvious. “We waited in the parking lot for you to get off then followed you home. That place was way too easy to break into…you’re lucky it was us who let ourselves in.”

I don’t bother telling him they were far from the first people to break into my apartment, but I usually wasn’t there and the people who either kicked in the door or picked the locks weren’t after my body, but anything they might be able to pawn or sell for drugs.

“I need that money, B.”

His brows slam together. “And why would youneedthe money?” His jaw works and his frown deepens. “If you’re thinking of disappearing again, it won’t happen. I won’t let it happen.”

“Fuck you, Brix. Do you think I was blowing smoke up your ass when I said I never stopped loving you? Have you become so fucking jaded you think every word out of my mouth is a lie? Or have you hardened so much that I just became yet another person you brought to your secret apartment to fuck like all the others.”

I regret the words the moment they leave my mouth. None of them were fair. I’m lashing out, and it’s all from fear.