Page 37 of Pretend Wife (Angels of the Secret Order #4)

TWENTY-SEVEN

Hayden

My blood ran cold at Danielle’s words.

Do you remember when I said my secrets could put you in danger?

I remembered that conversation perfectly. I’d told her she was worth it, and I still believed that wholeheartedly, but there was another angle to her statement that I hadn’t considered. I didn’t give a fuck about her putting me in danger, but I very much cared about the danger she could be in.

I cupped her cheek and swept my thumb over her cheekbone, silently begging for her honesty. “Baby, talk to me. Are you in trouble?”

She squeezed her eyes closed, tears sliding down her cheeks.

“I don’t know what to do,” she said, and the tremor in her voice made my heart crack.

“I’ve been over it in my head a hundred times, and every idea ends in someone I love getting hurt.

You could get hurt because of me, and I want to tell you everything, but I can’t . ”

“Shh.” I pulled her into my arms, holding her tight against my chest. “It’s okay.”

“No, it’s not.”

“Can you help me understand what’s going on?”

“If I tell you about the deal, he’ll come after my family.”

Every protective instinct I possessed roared to life, and white-hot anger blazed through me. I wanted to kill whoever was responsible for Danielle’s tears. Someone was threatening her, and they were using her love for her family to do it.

“Who’s he ?” I asked.

“I can’t tell you.”

“Do your brothers know?” It hurt my pride to ask, but keeping Danielle safe was more important than proving that I could protect her without her family’s help. Especially since I had no idea who I was dealing with.

“No. I’m not allowed to tell them either.”

I forced myself to relax enough to smooth a hand over her hair, to comfort her, even though everything in me wanted to go after the nameless bastard who dared to threaten my wife.

Danielle was my first priority. I needed her to know that I was here for her, that I wasn’t going anywhere.

If she was going down, I was going with her.

“I’m sorry,” she murmured into my chest.

I wanted to tell her it would be okay or that she didn’t have to apologize, but I had a feeling she wouldn’t believe either of those statements.

So I continued stroking her hair and holding her to me.

The only thing I could do right now was try to show her that I loved her in sickness and in health, for better or worse.

“Are you hungry?” I asked after a while.

She shook her head.

“Come on. Let’s get you to bed.”

When she didn’t move, I scooped her into my arms and carried her up the stairs. I laid her on the bed and moved to the walk-in closet we now shared. A line of nightgowns hung in a row, and I selected a silky floor-length one with thin straps and no buttons.

Danielle didn’t look at me as I returned to her side. I honestly wasn’t sure she was seeing me as she stared at the covered windows across from the bed.

“I don’t want to lose you,” she whispered as I untied her shoes and slipped them off.

“You won’t,” I promised, kissing up her leg until I reached the garter at her thigh.

She slapped a hand over it. “Don’t.”

“I know.” I bypassed the fabric and continued kissing my way up to her panties, nipping at her pussy through the thin material.

“Hayden,” she moaned.

“Tell me what you want, Sunday School.”

“You.”

“I’m yours, baby. All yours.”

I undid the buttons on her skirt, letting it fall away before slowly peeling the top over her head. The sight of her naked in my bed would never get old. My eyes roved over every inch of bronzed skin. She was so soft and yet so strong .

“Take off the garter,” I said, my voice coming out rough and husky.

She obeyed, undoing the half-dozen eyelets in seconds. She tossed the thing I wasn’t allowed to touch on the floor somewhere beside the bed and reached for me.

I caught her hand in mine and brought her palm up to my mouth, never breaking eye contact.

“Hayden…”

“Lie down,” I ordered.

She made a sound of protest, but she did as she was told.

“Good girl.”

A shiver claimed her whole body, and my lips curved up in a slow smile.

She could lie to us both all she wanted, but she couldn’t hide the way her body reacted to me.

Danielle was one of the strongest people I knew, but she loved giving up control to me in bed.

Even more, she loved the praise and ways I rewarded her for her obedience.

I lowered my lips to her stomach, sliding my tongue over her skin and circling her belly button until she was squirming beneath me before moving up toward her breasts.

Her nipples were peaked and begging for attention.

I swept my tongue over one and then blew on it softly, relishing in the way goose bumps broke out over her flesh.

“Stop being a tease and fuck me,” she begged.

I chuckled, sucking her other nipple into my mouth. “So impatient.”

“Hayden, please. ”

All my resistance snapped as if she’d cut right through it with a knife. She could get me to do anything with that one word. It was impossible to deny her.

It took me mere seconds to strip her panties and my clothes and position myself between her legs, my cock nudging against her hot, wet entrance.

My eyes found hers. It was like drowning in warm whisky, and I didn’t care to ever resurface. When we were like this, everything was perfect. The rest of the world faded away and it was just us. Nothing mattered except her and me and the pleasure we brought each other.

Our eyes stayed locked as I sank home, her body stretching to welcome me in.

“Fuck, baby,” I groaned. “You feel like heaven.”

She gave me a soft, somewhat amused smile.

“How do you know what heaven feels like?” She reached up to brush the hair back from my forehead, her fingers leaving a path of tingles behind.

It didn’t matter how many times I was inside her, how many times she touched me, it never failed to make my body come alive.

“It feels like you. There’s no other possibility.” A part of me had known it from the beginning. She was the only prize I’d ever wanted at the end of the road. She was my salvation and my reason all at once.

I lowered my lips to hers, kissing her slow and deep, my tongue meeting hers in languid strokes. She tasted like sugar, and I didn’t think I could ever get enough.

Shifting my weight to one arm, I ran the fingers of my other hand over her bare skin, pausing on the places I knew she was most sensitive, drinking in her small gasps and reveling in the way she arched beneath me .

Her hips lifted, searching for more friction, and I groaned into her mouth as bolts of pleasure shot from my groin and up my spine.

I pulled back to look at her again, soaking in every one of her features as I began to rock slowly in and out of her. She was mine. My wife, my deliverance, my reason for breathing, the person who gave my life meaning. And I needed her to know it, to feel it.

My thrusts turned deeper, but I kept them slow, reverent. This wasn’t about fucking or even pleasure. It was about loving the woman who had turned my world upside down and made me want things I’d never even believed in.

Everything about the moment was intoxicating, from the feel of her warm walls around my cock to the taste of her skin to her wildflower scent. If I could find a way to freeze time, I would. I wanted to live here in her arms, buried in her wet heat, for the rest of my life.

Danielle’s fingers trailed over my arms and back, her nails biting into my skin whenever I hit that spot deep inside her. She looked at me with a kind of awe, like she couldn’t believe I was real.

I wasn’t sure what I’d done to deserve that look on her face, but I was going to try to earn it. This amazing, strong, beautiful woman had chosen me, and I didn’t want her to think I took that for granted.

I dropped my forehead to hers as our bodies moved together in a rhythm that was both exhilarating and drove me insane with the need for more.

“Kiss me,” she breathed.

I didn’t need to be told twice, claiming her mouth with mine and getting drunk on her taste, on her feel, on her .

My speed picked up, and she met me thrust for thrust. Her walls tightened around me like she was trying to keep me inside her.

“Fuck,” I said against her lips. “You feel too good, baby. I want this to last longer, but I don’t think I can.”

I snaked one hand between us, my thumb finding her bundle of nerves and swirling tight circles around it.

She cried out, throwing her head back and arching her spine, her chest plastering itself against mine.

“Yes,” she whispered. “Oh my God, don’t stop.”

“Look at me, Sunday School.”

She brought her gaze back to mine. Our faces hovered close enough that we were breathing each other’s air, her breath fanning over my lips. The tension built between us, turning the air electric as I moved faster, giving her everything I had to give.

“Come for me, baby,” I murmured, fighting my own orgasm as my balls tightened and begged for release.

Danielle gasped my name, her body going rigid as her pussy milked me. Her nails dug into my back and her heels pressed into my ass, keeping me pressed against her.

I gave up the fight as my cock throbbed and pulsed inside her and stars danced across my vision.

I collapsed, barely managing to tilt to the side so I didn’t land on top of Danielle, and buried my face against her neck, inhaling the smell of wildflowers on her skin.

For a long moment that was all I could do.

I struggled to pull air into my lungs as my heart pounded like I’d just run a marathon and my body thrummed with satisfaction.

“I love you,” I murmured against Danielle’s neck.

Her fingers stroked through my damp hair. “I love you too.”

I slung an arm around her and pulled her tightly against my body. The need to keep her close where no one could take her away from me was overwhelming. It went beyond my normal level of possessiveness. It was a gut-wrenching need , the kind that couldn’t be ignored.

We fell asleep like that, with her tucked against my chest and my face in her hair, our legs tangled together.

In the morning, I called Miles and asked him to come over. I didn’t want to leave Danielle alone knowing someone was threatening her, and while I had no problem blowing off work to stay with her, I had something else I needed to do today.

Miles showed up while Danielle was in the shower, and I gave him an even more vague explanation of the situation than she’d given me.

He promised not to leave her side until I got back, and I waited until she came downstairs before leaving.

“You’re still here.” A small smile graced her lips as I pressed a mug of tea into her hands.

“I couldn’t leave without saying goodbye.” I dropped a kiss on her forehead. “I’ll try to be back early today. I want to take you to dinner.”

“What’s the occasion? ”

“Do I need one?”

“I guess not.”

The truth was that I wanted to distract her, keep her mind off the threats I knew were eating away at her, and I needed an excuse to come home early. Something told me she wouldn’t approve of my ditching on my life because I was worried about her.

“I love you,” I whispered in her ear before forcing myself to walk out of the penthouse.

My phone was already pressed to my ear by the time I slid into the back seat of my car.

“Hello, Hayden,” Sierra answered on the second ring. “What’s up?”

“I need you to cancel everything on my schedule today. We’re having a meeting, in person. I can come to you.”

“Um, what? Hayden, what’s going on?”

“I’ll tell you when I get there. Are you guys at home?”

There was a pause and I could hear the murmur of muffled voices in the background before Sierra said, “Yeah. We’ll see you soon.”

Nathaniel opened the door when I knocked, his expression serious and bordering on threatening.

Sierra poked her head around his broad shoulders and offered me a tight smile. “Hey. Come on in.”

Nathaniel scowled, pulling his wife into his arms like he was preparing to shove her behind him at the first hint of danger.

“What are you doing here?” he asked, not taking his eyes off me.

“I need your help.” The words tasted even worse than I was expecting, but I shoved aside my pride. I needed backup. I didn’t have the kind of training or connections that could make sure Danielle was safe from whomever was threatening her.

Nathaniel’s eyes narrowed. “What kind of help?”

“Someone’s threatening Danielle.”

His body tensed, and Sierra gasped, her hand flying to her mouth.

“I need details.”

“I don’t have any,” I said with a sigh. “She’s worried about me getting hurt and mentioned something about a deal, but she said she can’t tell any of us about it or he’ll go after her family. Not sure exactly who that entails.”

“Shit,” Nathaniel muttered. “Baby girl, can you call the Torreses? Sam needs to know this.”

Sierra pulled her phone out of her pocket and walked a few steps away to make the call.

“Do you know who’s threatening her?” I asked.

“No. But if he’s claiming he’ll go after the family, we need to be on guard. Danielle isn’t the type who makes enemies, so unless you have any who are going after her because she’s your wife, I’m willing to bet they’re one of ours.”

“You have enemies.” It wasn’t a question.

“It comes with the job.”

“And you didn’t think that could come back to hurt Danielle?” I snapped, my temper flaring.

He gave a humorless laugh. “You don’t know anything about the situation, and it’s Dani’s job to tell you, not mine. I have no interest in getting in the middle of your marriage and which secrets you’re keeping. ”

“You know her secrets.” I knew Danielle was keeping them—she’d told me before our first night together and mentioned it again last night—but it hadn’t occurred to me that her brothers knew them.

“I know at least some of them. Doesn’t mean she’s told me everything. Clearly. Since I didn’t know someone was threatening her.”

“Please don’t tell her that I told you.”

Nathaniel nodded grimly. “I won’t. I’ll talk to Sam and we can discuss this further at the club on Saturday. For now, keep an eye on her and tell me if anything changes or seems off and one of us will come your way.”

“What are you going to do?”

“Nothing yet. We need to talk to our other brother and figure out a plan.”

“Can I help?”

He shook his head. “Just do everything you can to keep her safe.”

“You don’t have to tell me to do that.” Nothing was happening to Danielle as long as I was breathing.