Page 24 of Hunted Temptation (Alpha Nights: Unlikely Heroes #4)

Chapter Twenty-Three

ELODIE

I can give you a safe space, orgasms, and me.

Could I ever ask for more? A girl like me, I’m not sure I could. As much as I want to demand that he give me more, that he loves me and gives me everything a real couple has.

Devotion and babies, to name a few.

It’s not my place. I know it’s not. I’m not the girl who can demand those things. In fact, I didn’t think I would ever have this much, so how could I ask for more? I should be content with the way things are. And maybe allow myself to hope for something more… one day.

Sucking in a breath, I hold it for a moment as I close my eyes before I let it out smoothly and evenly. When I slowly open my eyes, my reflection greets me. I don’t recognize the eyes that stare back at me.

She’s not terrified. She’s not beaten down, she’s not exhausted. She hasn’t been used and abused. She hasn’t been tortured. She appears almost refreshed, and I don’t understand it. I should look the same. It hasn’t been that long. I haven’t been here that long, and yet… I’m not the same.

Taking a step backward, I turn away from the girl in the mirror and reach for the door handle. Turning it slightly, I stop and look over my shoulder at my reflection again. Turning my lips up into a small smile, I stare at myself for a long moment—taking my face in again.

Instead of dwelling, I face the door again and twist the knob, tugging it open. Vaughn is in bed, the sheets tugged up to his waist, his chest on display. His tattoos on display… deliciously.

His head is dropped, his focus on his phone, that is, until he shifts his gaze up to meet mine. Our eyes connect almost instantly, and a slow smile plays on his lips. He reaches over to his nightstand and sets his phone down.

“You good, Goldie?” he asks.

“Yes, Vaughn.”

He chuckles as he shifts forward, sitting up straighter. “That’s formal.”

“I meant yes, I’ll marry you.”

He doesn’t speak, and I make no move toward the bed. We stare at one another. He takes me in, and I do the same while pressing my thighs together, relieving the ache between my legs as I watch him.

I’m not sure how much longer I should stare at him when my primal urge is to run and jump into the bed and crawl into his lap. When I want to fuck him hard and fast, an urge that didn’t exist before I met this man.

Before this man saved me.

“I know you’re too old for me. But I love that about you,” I whisper. “You’re safe, you protect me. What I want is happiness, Vaughn. I want respect and care. One day, I hope it turns into love, because what you’re offering me is more than I could have ever dreamed of.”

He doesn’t say anything immediately. His gaze doesn’t leave mine. He continues to focus on me and nowhere else.

“I can’t promise you a normal life, Elodie. But I can promise you me.”

“That’s all I want,” I whisper.

“Then we get married.”

And that is that.

We get married.

“Then we get married,” I agree.

My lips curve up into a smile, and my feet become unstuck from the floor. I don’t know why they were so insistent on being stuck there, but they were. And now I’m on the move. Vaughn pulls the covers back from the bed, and I crawl inside beside him.

Rubbing my legs together a few times, I turn to face him, lying on my side, my eyes searching his. He shifts down in the bed until his head is lying on the pillow. I watch as he turns his head to the side, his eyes finding mine.

Vaughn’s lips curve up into a smile as he shifts a bit closer, wrapping his arms around me before he tugs me against him. His chest against mine. He dips his chin, and his lips find mine. I expect him to deepen the kiss, but he doesn’t.

I love it when he does this, when he talks against my mouth like this. I love every word he says. I just plain love him. I’m sure that’s a problem in and of itself, since he doesn’t love me back, but he’s going to be my husband. So, love or whatever you want to call it doesn’t matter.

He’s mine.

I’m his.

At least soon, we will be each other's. Forever.

“You’re coming to work with me tomorrow, you can hang with the girls again, maybe work out whatever wedding shit you want.”

I rear back slightly as my eyes widen. “Wedding?” I ask.

“That’s what happens when you get married, right?”

Shaking my head a few times, I sit straight up. I open then close my mouth a few times. I’m not sure what to say or how to say it. I don’t want a wedding. I don’t want any fanfare.

“I don’t want a wedding,” I say. “Just you and me, and that’s all.”

“So a justice of the peace thing?” he asks.

I don’t even know what that means. And I feel like an idiot.

Like a young idiot. I’m exactly what he says I am—too young.

I shouldn’t be doing this. I shouldn’t be doing any of it.

Maybe I should have just told him no and come up with some different kind of plan.

My thoughts disappear when he continues.

“At the courthouse,” he says. “Just you, me, and a judge.”

“Yes,” I exhale. “That’s what I want.”

“Then it’s what you’ll have, Goldie.”

Then it’s what you’ll have, Goldie . My whole heart melts. That’s what I’ll have. That’s what I will have. I can’t imagine finding a man like him in a million years. Love and babies aside, this is better than I could have ever dreamed.

VAUGHN

I want to fuck her again, but I don’t. Instead, I lean forward and touch my lips to hers, then clear my throat and lie down, gathering her in my arms. I can tell she wants me inside her again, too, but I need to think.

I demanded she marry me, and I won’t change my mind on that. I’ll marry her tomorrow if I can. However, I can’t help but think that I’m fucking her life up and fucking her over. I’m just not sure if I care enough to stop myself, or maybe I care too much for her to stop myself.

Elodie lets out a heavy sigh, shifting closer to me, wrapping her arm around my waist as she presses her body against my side. Her breathing evens out, and I know when she’s fallen asleep.

I close my eyes but don’t sleep, rather just breathe. I love the way she feels against me. Physical touch is not something I thought I would ever be okay with, except with her. I love to feel Elodie’s body next to mine.

My phone buzzes on the nightstand, and I reluctantly slip out of bed, sliding my thumb across the screen as I walk into the living room. Standing with my legs planted wide, I look out at the town lights below me. I’m not really focusing on anything, my hand on my hip as I say, “Hello.”

“It was a long night, but I have everything loaded. Do you have a price point for each hit?”

I can’t believe Lucille is calling me in the middle of the fucking night. “Lucille, why are you calling me in the middle of the night?”

I’m not mad. I’m more amused because she’s crazy as fuck, this one. Always has been, always will be, and I’ll be damned, but it’s endearing.

“Baby was up, so I figured I’d get this done,” she murmurs, sounding distracted.

I almost tell her that money is no object, but then I decide against it. I want there to be something left over for her, for Elodie. That way, if she ever wanted to go out on her own, she could live her life any way she wanted to.

“Fair market value,” I say. “You do it too high, people are going to start digging. You do it too low, no biters.”

Lucille chuckles. “I love you guys, all of you. Smartest bunch of men on the damn planet.”

Letting out a snort, I clear my throat. “It’s not us guys who are the smart ones. Between you and the other two girls, I can’t imagine how we made it without you.”

She ends the call a few moments later, telling me that she’ll see me in the morning sometime, and that’s that. I don’t go straight to bed, but slowly shift my gaze down to the sidewalk, looking down and across the street.

The PI is there, his eyes on me. I don’t know if he can see anything except perhaps my shadow, but he’s standing out there watching me, meaning I could go downstairs to the other condo and take care of him in about thirty seconds.

I don’t, though.

I’m going to let the dark web take care of that shit for me…

For the first time, I’m going to pay someone else to do my dirty work.

I wasn’t sure how I would feel about that, and I’m still not.

I’ll have to wait until the jobs are done, but I thought it would piss me off not being able to find that brand of relief, something I have counted on for years.

“Vaughn,” a sweet voice calls out.

Turning my head, I smirk at the sight of Elodie making her way toward me. She doesn’t stop, her gaze focused on me and only me.

“Why are you up?” she asks

“Lucille was finalizing things. She wanted to ask me about some numbers.”

Elodie hums. “In the middle of the night?”

“It’s Lucille,” I state, knowing that is explanation enough.

Elodie laughs softly. She has only met the woman today, yet I know she realizes that’s just who she is. Taking a step toward her, I reach out to grip her waist before I position her so her front is facing the window.

If that asshole wants to watch me, he’s going to get a goddamn show one more time before he dies. So that’s what I do. I wrap my fingers around her hips, tugging them out and tipping them to the perfect angle.

Her tits on the glass, cheek pressed against the cool surface, I gently slide myself inside her warm center. Lifting my eyes, I look over her shoulder and directly at that asshole. My lips twitch into a smile, and I hold it there while I fuck my woman.

Mine.

My soon-to-be wife.