Page 22 of Hunted Temptation (Alpha Nights: Unlikely Heroes #4)

Chapter Twenty-One

VAUGHN

Once the shock has worn off, I gather Elodie and take her home. Before I leave, I send Lucille and Theron a group text with the go-ahead to enact Lucille’s crazy fucking plan. I actually fucking like it. And using Scoggins’s own money is just fucking desserts. I’m here for it.

Once we pull into the parking lot of my building, I look in the rearview mirror, and the PI is there, making himself known. Something I thought was just him being a dumbass, but he was trying to play me the entire time.

Thankfully, I’m not the idiot he assumed I was, and I’m smart enough not to give him a damn thing.

Turning around in my seat, I lift my hand and give him a wave. I don’t care if he knows I see him. In fact, I want him to be completely goddamn aware. And if he’s got a brain at all, he’ll know that my entire place is secure and under surveillance to the fucking nth degree.

“Stay here,” I demand of Elodie.

I open the car door and close it behind me, then walk around the front of the car, opening the passenger door for her. Holding out my hand, my palm facing upward, I wait for her fingers to slip inside mine.

As soon as they do, I curl mine around her hand and gently tug her up to standing. Sliding my hand around her back, curling around her waist, I pull her against my chest, dip my chin, and touch my mouth to hers.

Elodie melts against me.

She fucking owns me.

Sucking in a deep breath, I take a step backward and tug her behind me. It doesn’t take the elevator long to climb and reach our floor. When I open the condo door, she slips inside before I do. Hearing my name being called, I turn my head and watch as the PI walks toward me.

“Vaughn?” Elodie calls out.

“Go to my bedroom and lock the door,” I demand.

I don’t have to look at her to know that she’s doing exactly what I’ve demanded she do. Elodie will never put herself in danger unless absolutely necessary, and I will never put her in that situation. That is something I appreciate about her. And she knows that this man is fucking trouble.

“Can I help you?” I ask as I turn toward the asshole.

“I just wanted to talk to Elodie,” he says, seemingly calm and rational.

I don’t give a fuck what he is. He could be a goddamn saint, and I still would not give a fuck at all whatsoever. Pressing my lips together, I watch him as he tries to think of something else to say to me. He’s not going to talk me into anything, not now and not fucking ever.

“I think it’s time for you to get inside your little car and drive the fuck back to California,” I state.

He arches a brow. “I won’t be leaving until I can talk to Elodie.”

I smile and let out a laugh. “Man, I'll give you the fact that you’re persistent. But you aren’t talking to her. Not now. Not fucking ever.”

“I can’t leave until I do.”

I let out a chuckle. Leaning forward, I make sure that he’s got complete fucking eye contact with me. “Better invest in some goddamn property, then, because you will be waiting for a goddamn lifetime.”

“My benefactor will be coming here soon if I don’t produce any information. You probably don’t want that to happen.”

“I don’t give a fuck,” I state.

I watch as the PI takes a step forward, then another. He is trying to intimidate me, but it doesn’t work. Although I find it comical that he thinks he can actually intimidate me. He can’t.

I would think he’s just being a cocky asshole if I didn’t know him better. He’s trying to get me to make a mistake. I won’t be making one, at least not the way he wants me to. I’m sure I’ve made a million of them in my lifetime, but not in this case. Not with him. Not with Elodie.

Taking a step backward, I jerk my chin in his direction. “Have fun house hunting.”

Closing the door, I flip the dead bolt closed, then the other locks, and I shift into place to look through the peephole. I watch him pace for a moment before he turns and makes his way in the direction he came from.

Taking my phone out of my pocket, I find the surveillance app and watch as the fucker walks down the hallway, down the stairs, and then to the front door. He moves away from the building toward a car, then stops at the driver’s seat and looks over his shoulder at the building.

My lips twitch into a smirk.

Fucker.

I don’t move until he opens the car door, slips inside, and shifts the car into Reverse . He pulls out of his spot and thankfully drives away. I can’t help but wonder if I should maybe be watching him.

I’m sure I should, but on the other hand, his little boss isn’t going to be a problem much longer. If I decide to agree to this crazy fucking plan of Lucille and Elodie’s, I’m adding that asshole to my list.

Once I’m sure the PI is gone, I make my way toward the bedroom, unlocking the door before I slip inside. There, standing with her back to me, is Elodie. She doesn’t turn to face me, but she must sense it’s me because she begins to speak.

“Is he gone?” she asks.

“He’s gone for now.”

She hums before she finally turns around to face me. I watch as she tilts her head back, her eyes finding mine as her teeth bite her bottom lip. “Everything okay?”

I could tell her the details of the conversation, but decide against it. Instead, I just dip my chin in a single nod before I move toward her. One step, then another until I’m just a few inches from her body, so fucking close that I can smell her.

“Vaughn,” she exhales.

“Everything’s fine. Take off your clothes, Goldie. I’m fucking you against this window.”

She shivers, her body trembling as her lips part and her eyelids lower. She looks up at me through her lashes, and my cock stands at full attention. Lifting my hand between us, I curl my fingers around the front of her throat, squeezing her there firmly but gently.

Leaning forward, I touch my mouth to hers while my other hand slips beneath her pants, cupping her bare pussy. “You’re still sensitive from earlier. I’ll be gentle, Elodie,” I growl. “But I’m addicted to your cunt. To your taste. To you.”

Her hips roll as she searches for my touch. My fingers move ever so gently, a whisper of a touch against her soft, sweet, sensitive clit. “I love you, Vaughn.”

“Marry me.”

The words come out before I even think about them. They spill out, and I know I won’t be able to stuff them back inside.

Marry me .

And it’s in this moment, this mistake, this slip of the tongue, that I realize I want that. She’s mine, this woman, this eighteen-year-old girl in most people’s eyes. She’s too young for me. I likely look like a pervert with her like this.

But I don’t care.

She’s mine.

She was made for me. She was given shit for eighteen years, and I’m going to give her a life, peace, and power for the next eighty.

“Marry me,” I repeat as I slip my fingers inside her.

ELODIE

Marry me .

His words play on repeat inside my head, rolling around and around. I lift my hips, meeting his fingers, grinding my clit against his palm. So good. I’m so close, my body climbing higher and higher with each curl of his fingers inside me.

I love him. So I should be jumping for joy at his demand. But something feels hollow. The words marry me … they don’t feel genuine. There is no profession of love. There are no tender words.

Just a demand.

But before I can question it further, before I can say anything, my body takes over. My desire, my need, my orgasm.

It consumes me.

My hips rock and buck without my control. I’m a woman on the search, a woman ready to combust, and when it happens, I can tell, can feel that it’s going to be huge. The orgasm doesn’t explode inside me the way I expect. It rolls throughout my body and seemingly lasts forever.

Closing my eyes, I grip Vaughn’s biceps, holding on to him, gripping him as I continue to ride his hand and ride out the sensation.

Slowly, I let out a breath, my back arching as my orgasm ebbs and flows, as it dies down, and then my heart begins to slow down, and my breathing relaxes.

And only when I am a bit more coherent do I open my eyes.

My gaze finds his, and those words come back to me.

Marry me .

I don’t get the chance to talk to him about it. Not yet. Vaughn is the hungry one now… starving, actually.

He spins me around. His hand is on the center of my back before he applies pressure, although he doesn’t have to apply much, because I bend to his will—instantly. I hear his clothes rustle behind me, and my once satiated body is ready for more.

I need him inside me, ache for him to stretch me, to fill me.

When I feel the head of his cock press against my center, I let out a relieved exhale. He buries himself deep inside me, stilling, allowing me to adjust to his size. I push my hips backward, accepting his intrusion—loving it, actually.

His fingers grip my hips before I feel him gently slide out of me, all the way, except for the head of his cock, then he slams inside, hard and deep. He does this a few more times. He thrusts hard but slowly.

God.

So good.

Closing my eyes, I stretched my arms out, gripping the comforter of the bed with my fingers, holding on as he fucks me from behind. Resting my cheek against the soft bedding, I keep my eyes closed and relax my body as much as I can.

He moves.

In and out, slow and hard.

Perfect every single time.

Warmth fills me, flows throughout my body as I begin to climb higher and higher toward the edge.

I’m about to fall over, but I’m not ready yet.

I try to take slow and even breaths.

I’m not sure how much longer I’ll be able to hold out, but then I feel Vaughn’s hand slip around my hip, dipping between my legs, his fingers touching my clit, swirling and applying the perfect amount of pressure needed to send me over the edge.

I feel his lips against the shell of my ear, his chest pressed against my back, and I let out a moan that fills the room. He doesn’t even have to speak, because I’m right there.

Right.

There.

I come, but it’s not something that flows like warm honey.

It slams into me, consuming all of me. My entire body stiffens, but if Vaughn notices, he doesn’t bother to stop or slow down in any capacity.

He continues to slam into me from behind, his finger still moving against my now sensitive clit.

I open my mouth to cry out, but no sound escapes my throat.

Then Vaughn buries himself deep inside me, stilling right before I feel his cock twitch and the warmth of his cum fills me. His breath slides over the shell of my ear as he moans with his release.

“Marry me, Elodie.”