Page 2 of Beneath His Vow (Knocked Up and Locked Down #1)

TWO

LEXI

I wake the next morning, sore between my legs, a delicious ache only Casey can leave behind. His arm is clutching my belly, as if he’s already done what he threatened last night and put a baby in me.

We’re not ready for kids, not yet. I’m on birth control, and although we’ve talked about starting a family, it’s always been a ‘someday’ thing—not a ‘today’ thing. But when he’s deep in that possessive headspace, he always circles back to it, like he’s trying to make it happen.

His breath is hot against my neck, even and relaxed, a side of him only I get to see. I try to slide out of his hold, but his arms band around me like a chain.

“Where are you going?” he mumbles, and then he pulls me into him, like he’s trying to fuse with my body. “Go back to sleep.”

“I have to get up for work.”

I’m already cutting it close. I need to shower and dry my hair. Unlike Casey, I don’t roll out of bed looking like a fucking Greek God.

He doesn’t let go of me, and realistically, if he chose to keep me here, there’s not a lot I can do. My husband is built like a linebacker.

“Sex first, then work—if your pussy can take me after last night.” He’s a little smug as he says it, his fingers already stroking through my wetness. I roll my eyes even as I try to hold back the moan that wants to escape at his touch.

“Your cock isn’t as magical as you think it is.”

Except it is, but I’m not telling him that.

He snorts, running the tip of his nose down the side of my throat as he slides two fingers inside me, his thumb circling my clit. “I’m not the one who was babbling incoherently and gripping onto the bench like their life depended on it.”

I jab my elbow back, catching him in the side even as I let out a whimper, because his fingers are doing things to me that are making my eyes roll in my head.

“You’re an asshole.” I’m panting. I don’t even care.

“Yeah,” he says, “but I’m your asshole.”

He lets go of me just long enough to guide his cock to my entrance, and I should argue, say no I’m aching, but when he pushes inside me all my words die on my tongue.

My body molds around him as he stretches me, forces me to take his thick shaft.

Overused muscles protest at being pushed again so soon, but this is nothing like last night. He enters me slowly, like we have all the time in the world. Like I’m not racing the clock.

In his eyes, I’m not. The world bends around Casey, not the other way around.

By the time I get in the shower, I’m already ten minutes behind schedule. I don’t have time to dry my hair, so it’s still damp when I throw it into a braid.

Then I’m on the back of Casey’s bike, hugging his waist. The engine rumbles beneath us as he glides through the traffic toward my office block. Sitting behind him, the open road ahead, it’s one of my most favorite parts of the day. So by the time he pulls in at the curb, I’m already buzzed.

I climb off the bike, careful not to touch the pipes, and unclip my helmet. He takes his own off, and then his hand cups my face.

“Fuck, maybe I should just keep you for the day.”

I smile. “You don’t have enough felonies to your name without adding kidnap?”

“They’re only felonies if you get convicted.”

He presses his lips to mine before I can answer. It’s a kiss meant to remind me who I belong to, not that I need it. I am more than aware who owns my heart, body, and soul.

“I’m going to be late.” My complaint is weak.

He scrubs a hand over his face. “Get out of here before I change my mind.”

“Love you.”

“Love you more.”

A grin splits my face that he said those words.

I feel light as I make my way into the building, pausing at the door to wave at him, and he doesn’t ride off until I’m inside. He never does. I reach my desk with a minute to spare, breathless and hot—and not because I power walked all the way here.

I can still feel Casey’s touch on me like fingerprints under my skin.

I hum to myself as I boot up my PC and grab my to-do list for today. I’m just getting settled when a shadow falls over my desk. I glance up and, leaning against my cubicle wall is James.

Tailored suit, perfect hair and clean shaven, he’s worlds apart from Casey and the men I’m used to being around. Any member of the club would have him crying into his spreadsheets before he could blink.

He also hates me with an unhealthy obsession. In the six months since he became my line manager, he’s made my life a fucking misery, but the last month he’s gotten worse.

He couldn’t let me get my jacket off before he started this shit?

My insides twist into a giant fucking pretzel-shaped knot as I will my face to do anything other than grimace.

He gives me one of his patented thin-lipped smiles, but it doesn’t reach his eyes.

“The end of quarter report is due today,” he says like he’s doing me a favor telling me.

I grit my teeth. “It’s ready to be submitted as soon as I have the figures from production.”

He makes a ‘hmm’ sound in the back of his throat, his gaze roaming over me like he’s trying to pull the report out of my brain.

“Right,” he draws out the word. Prick . “Before eleven, Alexis. Teamwork makes the dream work. Don’t be the weak link.”

I’m smiling while committing homicide in my head. I fucking hate being full named and he knows it. No one calls me Alexis. Not even my mother and she picked it.

James gives me a look that lingers just a fraction too long, then he walks away.

I breathe.

Tasha appears over the top of my cubicle wall. “That man needs to choke on his own tie,” she mutters.

I don’t disagree. “He’s always a jerk around reporting deadlines, but I swear he’s been up my ass this whole week.”

My glow from this morning is rapidly dimming. Casey’s possessive touches are a distant memory. Now, all I have is ugly anger burning through my veins and a sour knot burning in my throat.

“He does know that you’ve been doing this job two years longer than he has, right?”

I click the mouse a little too hard. “Honestly, there are days when I think I should listen to Casey and just quit. Stay home all day and watch bad TV.”

“You’d be bored in an hour.”

She’s not wrong. Annoyingly . “At least I’d stay out of prison,” I mutter darkly. “We’re in agreement, right? We hate that asshole.”

“Oh, yeah. He’s a dick.”

By midmorning, I’ve convinced myself I’ll look good in orange. His snarky, passive aggressive comments are grating on every one of my nerves.

CASEY

Been thinking about your pretty pussy all morning

I stare at the message, my cheeks flaming. Even after two years of marriage, he still can make me blush like I’m fifteen.

I’m buried behind three partition walls, but I still snap my gaze around like someone might be snooping.

About how you wrecked it?

Twice.

I watch the three dots appear on the screen, distracted completely from finishing the reports James wants in the next thirty minutes.

CASEY

I want you wrecked, baby. I want you so wrecked every time you move all you think about is me fucking you.

My lips part. Holy mother of…

Not fair to say these things when I’m stuck in a dystopian corporate hellscape with no escape for the next seven hours.

His reply comes back almost immediately.

CASEY

Fuck it. Come home. I’ll give you an afternoon you won’t forget.

I consider it. Really consider it. It would be so easy to just walk away, tell James to shove his reports up his ass.

We don’t need my paycheck. Casey has money.

He doesn’t even take any of it off me when I get paid.

In the early days of our relationship, I wanted to contribute, but every time I tried to give him my share of our bills, he would give it back to me.

As tempting as that is, I do like my job. Usually.

I put the phone down as the information I need from production comes through to my email. I open the doc and start transferring what I need into my spreadsheet.

My phone vibrates a moment later and I quickly check it.

CASEY

Who am I killing?

I pause. From anyone else, that would be a funny joke. But Casey isn’t playing. If I give him the word, he’ll make my problem disappear without leaving a trace. And that’s why I say nothing. James is a dick, but he doesn’t deserve to die.

No one. It’s fine. I can’t wait to see you later. I love you so fucking much.

Less than a heartbeat later, his reply comes back.

CASEY

I love you too, sunshine.

And for a moment, just a breath of a moment, I forget about James and his bullshit because that right there is all that matters.