All these years,
he had been waiting for a second chance. All these
years, he had waited for her.
Waited—because he’d been told that she would need
him. He’d held onto that, because he loved her,
because he wanted to believe she would one day
forgive him, one day love him again, one day need
him.
And now, here she
was…so lovely, so beautiful and strong. So out of
reach.
He’d been a
delusional fool.
She leaned against
her lover and smiled at him. A golden brow arched
and she said, “What’s the matter, prince? Cat got
your tongue?”
He skimmed his
gaze over her once more, wishing he could move in
and touch. Wishing he could take and taste. Instead,
he tucked his hands into his pockets and inclined
his head. “Just trying to understand your choice of
clothing.”
“Oh, well, now. I
can help there.” Elle gave him a devilish smile and
leaned in, her voice a low, silken purr. “It’s a sex
club. I’m trying to blend.”
Michael didn’t
think Elle could ever blend. No matter what she did.
She was close…so
close. Closing his eyes, he took a slow, careful
breath, flooding his senses with her scent, reveling
in the warmth he felt radiating from her.
But then she
pulled back. Gone. Her eyes stared at his and she
had a blank, bored expression on her face. “So now
that you know why I’m pretending to be S&M Barbie,
why don’t you get out of here?”
“I can’t.”
Inclining his head, he said, “I was sent here. Told
to find you, help you.”
“Help me?” She
shrugged. “Sorry, Michael, I’ve already got help.”
She inclined her head towards her companion and
asked, “Ren, have you met Michael?”
“No.” A cold smile
curled Ren’s lips and he stroked his jaw. “I don’t
believe I’ve had the pleasure. Although I’ve heard
of you. Quite a bit, actually. But, as you can see,
help is already taken care of. Run along now…go
crawl back under a rock or something.”
Michael bared his
teeth in a grim smile. “I’ll go on along when I’m
damn good and ready…what was the name again…Ren?”
The other man
opened his mouth to respond and Michael looked away,
dismissing him. “He sent me, Elle. You’re stuck with
me.”
Elle’s lashes
lowered, shielding her blue eyes from him.
But he didn’t need
to see her eyes to feel her anger, feel her
confusion.
She hid it behind
a cool smile just a few seconds later. “I suspected
as much. Damn, apparently I went and pissed somebody
off but bad, if I got stuck with you.”
Michael managed to
hide his wince, but just barely. “I’ll be sure to
let him know you didn’t appreciate my presence.”
She didn’t need to
ask which him he was talking about—it could only be
Will. He was the only one who ever sent them anyway.
All orders came through him. For the most part,
those who served under Will’s lead didn’t have to
follow orders—they knew their responsibilities and
they did their jobs.
But every once in
a while there came a special case.
Michael didn’t
know what was special about this particular job, but
if there was a chance in hell that Elle might
actually need him, then he’d walk through fire to
help her.
And if that meant
he’d have to stand by at the side while another man
pawed her, so fucking be it. He’d be insane when the
job was done, but if she might need him, he didn’t
give a damn.
If he was honest,
he’d have to admit he’d walk through fire just to
see her smile. Burns healed. Doing something that
would actually put a real smile on her face? It
would be worth a little pain.
