Page 16 of Hunted Temptation (Alpha Nights: Unlikely Heroes #4)

Chapter Fifteen

VAUGHN

I slip out of bed and walk out into the living room, my phone in hand. I don’t know when we became a Bonnie and Clyde vibe, but I think I would be okay with it if that’s what she wanted.

If she wants to murder and maim every piece of shit on the planet, then I’m down to do just that.

Even if I might not believe that she could be capable of being my partner.

Though the fact that she didn’t even flinch when I killed those fucks, one of them being her actual father, makes me think it’s possible.

What if she’s more like me than I ever imagined?

Maybe she needs it the way I do?

To heal.

To live.

I make my way toward my office and close the door behind me, locking it, then sink down in my chair before I look down at my phone. I didn’t want to look at it, to respond to anything until I was in here alone. I learned a long time ago that nothing good comes in the middle of the night.

Unlocking my device, I take in my notifications, my eyes scanning the screen.

There was a hit on Elodie’s name. Someone searched her name online.

I don’t know what they’re doing with the information, or rather lack thereof.

They won’t find anything on her. Lucille and Nadine have assured me of that.

She’s been scrubbed. She existed. You can’t change the fact that she has a birth certificate, a high school diploma, and people who actually knew her. But that doesn’t mean her information needs to be accessible—past, present, or future.

Elodie existed, so there are people who will remember her, but they will never find her, not ever again. I will never let anything happen to her. And the past, the people of the past, are inconsequential to her future and would only cause her pain.

I’m not sure what to do with this information, but I decide to poke around myself. I want to know what they can see. Powering on my computer, I pull up a search engine and begin. After typing in her name, I wait.

A few moments later, I have a whole page of information at my fingertips, and I’m glad to see that none of it shows me where she is now. Nothing. I hope it can stay exactly that way. But I want to know who the fuck was looking for her.

Typing her father’s name into the engine, I smirk at the articles that pop up immediately. Chief Scoggins found dead with lover .

A murder-suicide.

No foul play expected.

The lover’s name is mentioned, and I write it down on a piece of notepaper. Then I see that the driver in the car is listed as the state comptroller.

What a shit show.

A lover’s spat. Three men together, two naked. The third in the car, the comptroller, shot himself in the head. He had found the two lovers together and ended his own life. It was clear-cut, and I made it that way.

When it came to Elodie, I saved her name in Scoggins’s phone under Nadine’s number. She knew the police would be calling, and she assured me that she would play the part. And judging by everything I’ve been able to find, it points to the fact that she is in the clear.

The estranged daughter, who was away at college, thanked the police officers but would not be returning home. Nadine played her part well, and it’s believed that Elodie, while having been a devoted daughter, is, without a doubt, free at last.

A noise in the hallway causes me to open the security cameras. There she is, wearing nothing except my undershirt, padding around on her bare feet, looking for me. Her hair is wild from my hands, and I know she’s wearing bruises from my fingerprints on various parts of her body beneath the shirt.

Closing down everything, I grab my phone off the desk and make my way toward the door. I flip the lock, open the door, and slip out, locking it behind me.

I know it’s bullshit. That I shouldn't have any locked doors. But at the same time, I need to know that I can trust her wholly and completely before I let her into every aspect of my life… And even then, I don’t know if I could let her fully into every part of me.

There is a lot of darkness inside me that nobody needs to see, to feel, to consume.

Stepping out into the hallway, I look in the direction she was walking just a moment ago and smile at the sight of her back. Elodie’s blonde hair is all I can see shining in the moonlight coming in through the windows.

She stops, looks over her shoulder, and as her eyes find mine, her lips curve up into a grin. She turns to me fully, her eyes never leaving mine, her smile not wavering even for a second.

She moves toward me, closing the distance between us.

I don’t move, content to watch her shuffle her feet my way.

She stops in front of me and places her hand on the center of my chest. My muscles jump beneath her touch.

She sinks her teeth into her bottom lip, her gaze searching mine for a long moment.

“What were you doing?” she asks, her voice hoarse and sleepy.

Without a word, I bend down, slide one arm beneath her knees and the other around her waist, then I turn around and carry her straight to bed. We lose eye contact for a moment. She wraps her arms around my shoulders as her gaze finds mine again.

“I had something for work to take care of,” I murmur. It’s not a lie as much as it is a half-truth. Continuing on my way to bed, I only release her from my grasp when we’re beside the bed.

Her feet touch the floor, her hands on my chest as she continues to look up into my eyes. “Work?” she asks. “In the middle of the night?”

I smirk as I dip my chin and touch my mouth to hers. “Work never ends, Goldie.”

“Are you done now?”

I hum, dip my chin, and touch my mouth to hers. “With office work, yeah,” I reply on a grunt.

ELODIE

The sun shines in, warming my face, then, unfortunately, my entire body, and before I even open my eyes, I throw the covers off my naked body. I let out a heavy sigh. I wish I could stay curled in the blankets all day, but I’m too damn hot, and that’s disappointing.

Turning my head, I look over to see if Vaughn is still beside me. I’m not surprised to find he’s not. Reaching out, I slide the back of my hand over the sheets on his side of the bed, and while they aren’t cold, they’re cool. He hasn’t been here in a while.

I throw my legs over the side of the bed and place my feet flat on the floor, feeling the plush carpet beneath my feet and between my toes. Slowly, I straighten my knees and let out a heavy sigh as I go in search of Vaughn’s shirt from last night.

I can’t believe I slept naked next to a man. I’ve never done that with anyone else. And I never want to either. This is the only man I want anywhere near my nakedness. I’m not sure if I’m making the right decisions, but I don’t just want to be in Vaughn’s life—I want to be his life.

All of it.

After slipping the shirt on over my head, I shuffle to the bathroom. I don’t know what it is about this carpet. It’s only in the bedrooms, but it’s so luxurious that I find myself shuffling just to feel it against my feet and between my toes.

Once I’ve finished my morning business, I run the toothbrush I found a spot for in the drawer over my teeth before I go in search of this man. I don’t know if he’s even here. He did tell me he would be working this week, and he would try to come home regularly.

Home.

I still can’t believe that this is my life, that this is my home. I’m not quite sure what is going to happen between us, but for the first time in my entire life, I'm excited for what is coming. Even if it ends in complete destruction, at least it would be a destruction of my choosing.

Walking around, I go in search of him, but it’s as I suspected. I’m alone. Wrinkling my nose, I let out a sigh. I know I should love this, being alone. I should let out a heavy sigh of relief, but I don’t. The last thing I want to be right now is alone.

Coffee doesn’t interest me, so I try to find something to eat. Thankfully, Vaughn ordered some food. So I make myself a bowl of Greek yogurt, fruit, and granola. Last night, Vaughn showed me how to use the television. So I turn that on and find something to watch.

Though I have no idea what it is. It’s a show about people from America going to live abroad for love. It’s fascinating what people will do for what they perceive as love. I’m not sure what love is, but I don’t think I could run off to another country for someone I don’t even know.

But then, as the realization sinks in, I have done just that. This is a whole different world for me. I’m all the way across the country. I don’t know anyone except Vaughn, and I don’t really know him either.

Oh god.

I’m like those people.

I’ve allowed this man to take me across the country, and I don’t know anything about him. I don’t even know his last name. Granted, he’s saved me, but is he just the devil I know? Because I already know that Vaughn isn’t an innocent man.

But at the same time, he’s saved me. His knighthood could all be a facade, though. I’m beyond conflicted. I don’t know which way is up, and I’m falling hard for him. Tumbling and sinking, really. I don’t know what is going to happen, and I’ve never been so excited to see it happen at the same time.

I’m not sure how long I stay sitting on the couch, watching this television show and thinking about how much I can identify with them. When the streaming service asks me if I’m still watching, I decide to go ahead and take a shower.

Sillily, I hurry with my shower, afraid that if I take too long, I’ll miss something. I’m not sure what I’m going to miss, but I hurry anyway.

When I’m finished, I dress in my favorite leisure outfit, the pink formfitting tank that hits me just above my belly button and the tight pink biker shorts that are probably a little too tight and too short, but I don’t care.

I walk into the kitchen knowing I should probably eat something, but as I look around inside the fridge, then the pantry, I decide I have no idea what I’m doing. There’s no way I can make much of anything out of the items in this house.

It would help if I could cook. I can cut up some things, but actual cooking is something that is not in my wheelhouse. I’m not sure how long I stand in the kitchen trying to figure out what to make or how to cook.

When the front door opens, I turn my head to the side and watch as Vaughn walks through. He doesn’t stop until he’s in the kitchen, and only then does he tip his chin, and his eyes find mine.

“Hungry?” he asks.

My mouth goes dry at the sight of him in front of me, wearing a pair of slacks and a button-down white shirt that has been rolled up at the sleeves and shows off his muscles. It goes so dry that when I swallow, nothing happens.

“Starving,” I exhale.

He grunts and, without another word, quickly closes the distance between us. His arms wrap around me, and then his mouth slams against mine, and his tongue fills me.

Tasting me.

Owning me.

Yum.