Page 94 of The Loves We Lost

I grin, but jump when he smacks my butt cheek with a loud crack. It burns, in complete contrast to how good his cock feels inside me. My body doesn’t know what to do with the conflicting emotions as pain and lust mingle.

Everything in my core tightens, and I know it’s going to be a fast plummet into freefall.

“God, you feel so good,” he mutters. “Taking my cock like this. You like it rougher, Vi?”

He slaps me again. And I nod. He removes every single thought from my mind beyond the two of us. My legs start to shake, and the desk slams against the wall. I can’t bring myself to care about either.

“Fuck, I’m gonna come, Vi. Don’t make me do it alone.” He slips a hand between my thighs. I catch sight of us in the long mirror attached to the back of his door.

Me, pinned. Miles’s athletic body tensing and flexing as he drives into me.

But it’s his words that break me, because I don’t want either of us to be alone again.

Even though we still haven’t figured out how to be together.

“Miles,” I gasp as I come, praying that we find a way.

31

BATES

Ipull up at the clubhouse with a grin on my face a week later. And I left my old lady in bed with a satisfied smile onherface, along with a promise I’d be back as soon as possible; I’m taking Avery out for the day so Vi can hunker down into writing her next book.

Avery was thrilled at the idea of a daddy-and-daughter day, although the doll tea party she suggested was not on my radar of what we’d do. I thought I’d take her down to the shore where I could work on her swimming lessons while having some fun together.

I’m winning Vi over. I’m sure of it. And in a few more days, I need to have the conversation with her about staying permanently. Because now that my house has had them in it, it will never be the same without them.

I’m humming a happy song as I step into the clubhouse.

“Bates,” King yells.

“Let me grab a cup of coffee first so everything you say next makes sense.”

Noah is at the bar, and hearing my words, he pours me a cup from a fresh pot. “Your face is looking better,” he says. “Any closer to figuring out the men who beat you?”

I thought the same thing when I looked in the mirror this morning. I’m a long way from healed, but I’m unlikely to scare small kids anymore. “Nah. Barely got a look in between trying not to kill myself as the bike crashed, and then protecting my internal organs when those goons got out of the truck.”

“A plate or something might have helped. You catch any part of it?”

“Nothing more than a make and possible model.”

“That sucks. Vex would have been able to round ’em up if you had one.”

I sip the steaming coffee. “True.”

“Hey, I was telling my old lady, Sarah, how you just moved Vi and Avery here, and she thought it might be fun for them to get together with her and my five-year-old, Rebecca. She thought they could, like, have a tea party or something.”

Prospects are expected to work at our events, so Sarah and Rebecca hadn’t been to the clubhouse the week before, for the barbecue.

“I’ll ask her. Thanks for the offer. It’s thoughtful and helps me kill two birds with one stone. If Vi gets settled, she’ll be happy, and Avery was threatening me with a tea party this afternoon. Can punt it now if she’s got one tomorrow.”

“Would love to see that. Would be lying if I said I’d never sat with Becca and pretended to drink coffee out of pink plastic cups.”

I think back to the precision of Avery’s packing. “Her tea set was one of the first things she grabbed when we were packing, and she entrusted it to Niro, who promised to get it back safely.”

“What’s the deal with you and Niro? How come you’re so close?” Noah asks.

“Bates,” King shouts. “You go to Colombia for those fucking coffee beans or something?”