I wanted to remove Thorn from this equation.

I was the one in charge, but he had a distinct hold over her. I didn’t have a clue what the man did to deserve her unflinching loyalty, but he never should have been the recipient of it. If he really cared about her, he wouldn’t engage in this false relationship. He wouldn’t allow her to marry someone she didn’t really love.

He was the one benefiting from this relationship a lot more than she was.

Why didn’t Titan see that?

I stayed at home that night and watched the game, ignoring people’s texts when they asked if I was at the gala that evening. My mind kept circling back to one of the last things I said to her. I took her face in my hands and said we weren’t going to walk away from each other. That when this arrangement ended, a new relationship would begin.

She never corrected me.

Disagreed with me.

Said anything at all.

That told me there was hope.

That I wouldn’t be another name on her list.

That I would be something more.

When ten o’clock rolled around and I didn’t hear from her, I texted her. Where are you?

The three little dots popped up. I just got home. I’m not feeling well, so I’m going to turn in for the night.

I leaned forward on the couch, my elbows resting on my knees. What’s wrong?

Not sure. Just an upset stomach.

Something told me she was lying, but I had no idea why. The context of a text message was hard to decipher. She might be lying to avoid the punishment she was due, but a fearless woman like Titan wasn’t scared of anything. How can you have an upset stomach if you don’t eat anything?

I guess I drank too much.

If she drank too much, she’d be begging me to come over. I’m coming over.

Why? I could actually hear her demand in the word.

Because I know you’re lying to me.

When I didn’t get a response from her, I knew I was right.

---

I walked into her penthouse and noticed the empty glass on the coffee table. There were still two ice cubes inside, so I knew she’d been drinking. Her lie was even more apparent now. “Baby, it’s me.” I walked down the hallway, making my presence known so she wouldn’t be startled.

I found her in her bedroom, sitting on one of her couches in the gray shirt I gave her. A tablet was in her hand as she scrolled through the news. Her hair was a loose curtain around her face, and her makeup was still heavy because she hadn’t removed it.

I sat beside her and rested my arm over the back of the couch. My arm pressed against her delicate shoulders, feeling their petiteness through the fabric. I watched her expression, noting how it didn’t change when I walked into the room.

It always changed when I walked into the room.

“What is it?” My hand moved into her hair and tucked the strands behind her ear.

She didn’t move at the touch. “I don’t want to talk about it, Diesel.”

“Why not? This is me we’re talking about.”

She finally looked at me, her eyes softening against their will. “I know…”

“You can tell me anything.” I eyed her lips, seeing their plump smoothness. They were still vibrant red, but the color was smeared in places, probably from drinking from a glass all night. “I’ll always keep your secrets.”

“It’s a secret I’m just not ready to tell. Nothing personal.”

“Will you tell Thorn about it?”

Her eyes shifted away, and she looked out the window. “No.”

Then it really wasn’t personal. “I’m here when you change your mind.”

“I know, Diesel. You’re always there…”

I tugged on the collar of her shirt and kissed her shoulder, swiping my tongue across her skin. She seemed to feel better when my mouth was on her, when she was the recipient of my hot and carnal kisses.

She closed her eyes and released a hum so quiet, I wasn’t sure if I heard it.

My mouth moved to her ear and kissed the shell. “Can I give you some advice?”

“How can you give me advice when you don’t know what my problem is?”

“Because all problems are different, but all solutions are exactly the same.”

She stared at me, her lips slightly parted.

“Just do whatever the fuck makes you happy. You’ve worked too hard to feel anything less.”

Her gaze dropped, and a small smile formed on her lips. “Do you take that same advice?”

I was screwing the most successful woman in the world for a reason. “Every day.”

She chuckled before resting her head on my shoulder. She pulled her knees to her chest and cuddled into my side.

I brushed a kiss to her forehead. “You still want me to leave?”

“No…I never want you to leave.”

Maybe she did have too much to drink tonight. “Then I won’t.”

---

I crawled on top of her, my naked body resting on hers as I spread her thighs with mine. We’d spent the last half hour making out on the couch, exploring each other on top of our clothes like teenagers at a kissing party. I moved her to the bed once she undid my pants.

“How do you want me, baby?” I liked her just like this, underneath me with beautiful tits staring back at me. Her smooth skin was soft like a flower petal, and her fairness made the surface easier to bruise with my tough kisses.

“I thought you were the one in charge?”

“I am. And I want to make love to you the way you want me to.” I kissed her on the mouth, my tongue parting her small lips and delving inside. I didn’t want to fuck her, to grip her by the throat and slam my cock into her ass. I wanted gentle kisses, quiet breathing, and slow sex.

“I didn’t think Diesel Hunt made love…”

“I didn’t think Tatum Titan did either…but that’s what we’ve been doing.” I pressed my head into her and moved all the way until I was completely inside her. My arms pinned her behind the knees, and I spread her wide apart, wanting all the room I could get to rock into her.

She bit her bottom lip and moaned. Her long nails dug into my arms, and her nipples hardened.

I let my cock sit inside her for a moment, surrounded by the wet tightness that made me feel more like a man. My thickness stretched her tiny cunt apart, filling every single inch of space that her body could create. I made her feel full, giving her so much man that she felt just like a woman. “Baby…this pussy is all mine.” I slowly thrust into her, feeling the slickness she produced just for me. I didn’t believe she’d ever been so wet for another man, so tight. I didn’t believe she’d ever enjoyed being with a man as much as she did with me.

“Yes…”

I held my face above hers and looked her straight in the eye as I slowly moved inside her, pushing deep and pulling out again. I kept my body rigid and tight, using my core to move in and out. Every time I was deep inside her, I never wanted to pull out.

I never wanted to leave.

“I’m already going to come…” Her hands wrapped around my wrists, and she used them as an anchor to slowly lift herself up and take my length.

“Because I always make my woman come.”

“God, Diesel…” Her head rolled back.

“You love it when I call you that.”

She bit her bottom lip again, tightening around me.

“Tell me.”

“I love it when you call me that…”

“Tell me you’re my woman.”

“I am, Diesel.”

“And I’m your man.”

“Yes…you’re my man.” Her hand suddenly tightened further on my wrists, and she came, her face contorting into an expression of pure pleasure. “Yes…Diesel.” She bit her bottom lip and thrust her hips upward, getting more of my length.

I wanted to come the moment she said I was her man. I buried myself deep inside her and released with a groan, pumping all of my white come deep inside her. I shoved it deeper, thrusting so it would stay inside her as long as possible. I wanted her to walk around all day with my seed sitting inside her, heavy and warm.

Because she was my woman.

Her hands ran up my chest, and she panted as she caught her breath. “More…”

My cock was softening, but it would only take minutes before it was back to full mast. “Yes, baby.”

---

We didn’t shower after sex like usual. We kept going at it until we were both satisfied. Then we rolled over and fell asleep. My limbs were wrapped around her even though I was hot and sweaty. The heat was fine as long as I got to be near her.

And she was all over me.

She clung to me like a little girl who needed her teddy bear to sleep well. When I looked at her, I saw the powerful woman who owned an empire. But after seeing that picture in the back of her father’s book, I couldn’t stop looking at her in an innocent way. She was just like everyone else, a vulnerable woman with feelings and sensitivities. She just erected skyscrapers and corporations around it.

I liked both versions of her.

But I’d always preferred Tatum.

I was dead asleep when I felt her shift in my arms. She didn’t just turn over like she normally did in sleep. She was thrashing, her arms moving from left to right and her legs kicking.

I was partially conscious of what was happening.

But when she screamed, I was wide awake.

Tears were all over her face, and she struggled to breathe. Her hands were around her neck like she was choking herself.

“What the fuck?” I grabbed her hands and yanked them down.

She punched me so hard, I actually fell back.

She kept thrashing until she fell off the bed and hit the hardwood floor.

“Tatum!” I jumped over the bed and landed on the ground beside her.

Her eyes were open, and she looked at me like I was the one who had just been choking her. “Get away from me.” Her voice was eerily calm, nothing like it was just a second ago. She scooted back on the floor, inching away from me. “Don’t touch me.”

I raised both hands in the air and stepped back.

She didn’t turn her back to me as she kept scooting backward. She slowly moved, not blinking as her eyes stayed on me. When she thought there was enough distance between us, she finally stood up and walked into the bathroom. The lock clicked when she pressed it.

What just happened?

That wasn’t a nightmare. That was a night terror.

I suddenly understood why she didn’t sleep with anyone. The night terrors must be a regular occurrence for her. They were terrifying, disturbing, and frankly, dangerous. She didn’t seem to recognize me, and if she’d had a weapon, who knows what she would have done.

I waited five minutes before I stood outside the bathroom door. “Baby…it’s Diesel Hunt. I’m standing on the other side of the door. I’m not going to hurt you.” Maybe she was sleepwalking. Maybe she still wasn’t awake, still wasn’t sure of her surroundings.

“Please leave, Hunt.”

Now she was calling me by my last name again. “Baby, talk to me.”

Her voice remained steady; Titan was the one in control. Her attitude was so calm, it was as if she was trying to convince me the outburst had never happened in the first place. “You should go.”

“No. I should stay. This is where I belong—with you.”

“I’m not going to unlock the door.”

“Then I’ll stay right here.”

Silence.

I waited, hoping she would open the door.

“Hunt, please go. I’m not going to ask you again.”

“You aren’t going to hurt me.” Maybe she wasn’t afraid of what I would do to her, but the other way around.

“I just need to be alone right now.”

“No one in the history of time has ever said that and meant it.”

“Hunt…”

“We’re in this together, baby. You can tell me anything. That applies right now.”

Silence.

Why wouldn’t she open up to me? I couldn’t unsee the distress I just saw. I couldn’t pretend I didn’t see her choke herself. I couldn’t pretend I didn’t see a version of Tatum Titan I couldn’t forget.

“I’m not unlocking that door,” she whispered. “I need to be alone right now, Hunt. We can talk about this later…but not right now. Right now, I just need to… I need some space.”

Listening to the heartbreak in her voice shattered my emotions. It hurt to hear her sadness. It broke me to listen to her pain. It was devastating that I couldn’t help her, that she wouldn’t allow me to.

“Please.”

I knew she wasn’t going to open the door for me. I knew there wouldn’t be any progress made tonight. I knew I need to give her space. “Okay, I’ll leave. But we are going to talk about this, Tatum.” I wasn’t going to sweep it under the rug and pretend it never happened. I wasn’t going to let this slide, not like the other times she’d dodged my questions.

After a long silence, she responded. “I know.”

---

I didn’t get anything done because all I’d been thinking about was Titan.

How was she doing?

Did she go to work? She said she never missed a day, that she didn’t get sick or take vacations. Would this qualify as an exception?

I went to Stratosphere at midday, the usual time we met and discussed our goals for the week. The assistants were working on the main floor, and I noticed Titan’s door was wide open.

That meant she was there.

I walked inside without announcing my presence and walked straight to the desk.

She was perfectly groomed like always, sky-high heels, a tight dress, and perfectly manicured hair. Her makeup was done with the same detail as usual, and she looked as though she’d slept like a rock.

She looked up and met my gaze. “Good morning.”

It was a shitty morning. I didn’t go to sleep when I got back home last night. I sat in front of the TV and drank all night.

“I took care of some reports.” She opened her drawer and pushed a stack of folders toward me. “I spoke with our product team in France. Everything is good on that end. I also hired a new marketing specialist. Didn’t make sense to keep the previous guy…”

I didn’t even glance at the folders. “Are we going to—”

“Not here, Hunt.”

“Then when?” I wanted to growl like a pissed-off bear.

“I don’t know…in a few days.”

“In a few days?” I asked incredulously. “I don’t think so. Tonight. My place or yours?”

“Hunt—”

“Diesel. Don’t fucking call me that again.”

She retained her composure even though I was practically yelling in her face. “I’m not ready.”

“Don’t give a damn. I gave you space last night. That’s all you’re getting from me. And if you ask me, that was pretty fucking generous.”

“I don’t appreciate your tone, Diesel.” She warned me with the fiery look in her eyes.

“I don’t appreciate your secrets, Tatum. You never answered me, my place or yours?” I thought she might not want to have the discussion where she had her freak out. Maybe the place was tainted to her now.

She didn’t break eye contact with me, but her eyes wavered back and forth. “Yours.”

I left her office without looking back.

---

Time seemed to travel so slowly as I sat there on the couch. My glass sat in front of me, but it kept getting empty because I wouldn’t stop drinking it. My decanter of scotch constantly kept refilling it, the ice cubes continually getting smaller and smaller.

Where was she?

Finally, the lights above the elevator lit up.

She was on her way.

I rose to my feet and stood in the entryway, ready to greet her the second she walked inside. I wouldn’t bombard her with a million questions. She was there to talk. My job was to listen.

The doors opened, revealing Titan in dark jeans and a black t-shirt. It was an outfit I’d never seen her wear out of the house. She was casual, real. She obviously didn’t care about making an impression tonight.

Which meant she was vulnerable.

Tatum was here.

I suddenly felt like a jerk for being so harsh with her earlier. I couldn’t contain my frustration very well, annoyed I wasn’t getting my way. My motivation came from a good place, but that didn’t excuse my roughness.

I pulled her into my body and wrapped my arms around her, cocooning her from everything that haunted her. I was a man made of flesh and bone, but I had the power to protect her from everything—if she would just let me.

My lips brushed across her hairline, and I squeezed her into my chest, being the crutch she would never allow herself to have. I closed my eyes as I held her, and a second later, I felt her grip me with the same intensity.

I was grateful just to hold her, to finally be allowed to touch her. This was how I’d wanted to hold her last night, to cradle her like a child that just needed to feel safe. If she’d only unlocked that door, I could have fixed her.

Even though I’d never fixed anyone before.

Minutes passed until we’d been standing there for half an hour. I wanted to pressure her, to get the answers I was so anxious to hear.

But I had to be patient.

I finally pulled away and looked down into her face. She wore her Titan expression but with her Tatum eyes. She retained her strong posture but her vulnerable aura. While there were still walls erected around her heart, there were far fewer than before. “Can I get you something to drink?”

“No, I’m okay.”

“You wanna sit down?” I guided her to the couch, the best place to have this conversation.

She sat beside me, her purse falling to the floor. She crossed her legs and kept her back perfectly straight. Even when she was at her weakest, she held herself with such strength. She looked at the floor for several heartbeats before she looked at me.

I held my tongue, letting her start whenever she was ready.

“I… Now you must know why I don’t like to sleep with anyone.”

“Yeah…I pieced that together.”

“I have bad nightmares. Sometimes they happen a lot, and other times, they seem to go away.”

A hundred questions popped into my head, but I didn’t voice a single one.

“It’s been going on for a long time, about ten years. I’m sorry that I startled you. I know what you saw, and…I’m just sorry.”

“Don’t apologize to me,” I whispered. “You don’t owe me one.” Her remorse stemmed from her perfection. She’d let someone see an ugly side of her, a side we all had. There was no need for an apology.

“I’m sorry anyway,” she whispered. “I’m sorry I didn’t open the door…I just couldn’t.”

I rested my elbows on my knees and leaned forward, waiting for the heavy stuff.

“It all happened ten years ago…when I met that boyfriend you’ve asked me about a few times.”

I knew that asshole had something to do with her coldness.

“Everything was normal when we met. We fell in love, moved in together, my business started taking off. He became really jealous and possessive. He got overtaken by greed. He wanted my money, but he didn’t like my power. He didn’t like the fact that I always excelled at everything I put my mind to, that I was more successful than he was. My success only reminded him of his failures. And that jealousy became more bitter and more hateful…”

I watched her lips move as she spoke.

“The relationship turned abusive at one point. I won’t go into the specifics because they don’t matter anyway. But he hurt me. And he would hurt me a lot.” Titan talked like she was in the middle of a meeting, like what she said had absolutely no effect on her. She had a hard shell that couldn’t be penetrated. “I contacted the police many times, filed restraining orders. The judge never considered my evidence sufficient enough, saying my bruises could have been self-inflicted. I was a just a woman with a sob story looking for sympathy. Every time I went to the police, he would only hurt me more. He would choke me until I passed out. The times he preferred to do it was when I was asleep…”

Fuck, I wanted to throw up.

I’d never been so angry and nauseated at the same time.

Titan had reached out for help, but the police turned her away. She wasn’t safe in her own home, being choked every time she shut her eyes. It made me so sick I felt a different emotion I hadn’t felt in a long time.

I wanted to cry.

“Thorn tried to help me in whatever way he could. I’d stay at his place a lot. He would protect me, place his body in front of mine anytime Jeremy came near me. But Thorn had a job, and he couldn’t be with me all the time…”

Now I felt like an asshole for ever hating Thorn.

“So Jeremy attacked me one day in my apartment. But this time, it was different. This time, he wasn’t going to let me walk away with a few bruises…”

My eyes shifted to hers, needing to hear the end of this story.

“Thorn came in just in time and…killed Jeremy. He was the one who stabbed him in the heart. We both panicked and covered it up, making it look like someone broke in to the apartment and tried to rob us.”

I played out the story in my mind, picturing Thorn stabbing a faceless man and letting him die on her kitchen floor. I pictured Titan’s tears as she watched the blood spill everywhere. I imagined her remorse as well as her grief.

“The police never suspected otherwise. But I’ve always hidden that story away from the media because I’m afraid the world will dig a little harder…look a little deeper. They’ll look over the evidence again, see the restraining orders I filed…and figure out there was no burglar at all. That I killed him. Or worse, that Thorn was the one who did it.”

Now everything made sense. I understood why she was so restrained from sharing that piece of history with me. It was incriminating to her closest friend, the person who’d protected her when no one else did. Despite my jealousy, I actually liked Thorn.

He was a good man.

I wanted to say something to make Titan feel better, but I was in shock. I didn’t realize her past was so deeply disturbing…so painful. “I hope you don’t feel bad for him. That asshole deserved to die.”

“No. I never feel bad about it.”

I looked at her, seeing the sincerity in her eyes.

“But I’ve never gotten over that feeling…” Her hands moved to her neck. “Of air being taken away from you. Of your lungs working to suck air down your windpipe, but two hands are obstructing your throat. I wish I would just get over it and move on, but I can’t. The idea of sleeping with someone in the same room terrifies me. It’s not that I think they’re going to hurt me. It’s just…it’s instinct.”

“No, it makes sense.”

“When you and I started sleeping together, I was so scared. But then the nightmares didn’t come. I slept well. I thought that horrifying part of my life was over. But I guess it’ll never be over.”

“It will,” I said with certainty. “You just need more time.”

“Yeah…maybe.”

I grabbed her hand and squeezed it. “Thank you for telling me.”

“I’ve never told anyone else before…except Isa and Pilar.”

Now I felt even more special, knew this was anything but a fling between us. Whatever we had was real, it was true. I tugged her into my chest and positioned her on my lap. Sometimes I forgot how small she was because she projected a presence three times as imposing. I rested my face against her cheek and held her there, giving her all the comfort I had. I had a few questions I was anxious to ask, but I was sure she didn’t want to answer them.

“It’s a part of my life I just want to forget about. Even if people didn’t suspect I had something to do with his death, if people knew I had been in an abusive relationship…they would think I was weak.”

“How do you figure that?”

“Because I was in the relationship at all.”

“But you tried to get out of it.” Titan shouldn’t have to feel ashamed for a bad relationship she had over ten years ago. She was young at the time, didn’t have a single family member to turn to. “If anyone actually thought less of you, they’d be completely insensitive.”

“Well…that’s how the world works. The higher your reputation, the further you have to fall.”

“I understand why you don’t want anyone to know, but I don’t think anyone would think less of you. I certainly don’t.”

“Really?” She turned her face toward me more, her eyes now looking into mine.

“Never.” I kissed the corner of her mouth as my arms tightened around her. I hugged her like letting her go wasn’t an option. Feeling her breathe beside me, her frame still strong and unbreakable, comforted me. She’d been beaten and hit, and I needed to know she was okay, that those bruises didn’t exist somewhere deep…under the skin. I wasn’t the one who had experienced such a horrible trauma, but I felt like the recipient of it. The idea of someone hurting Titan made me sick to my stomach. It made me want to murder a man who’d already been dead for ten years. “I still think you’re the strongest woman in the world…and I admire you.”

---

Thorn had a building here in Manhattan, one of his side businesses he ran. His tomato company was based in Chicago, but he had factories all over the country. He was a smart man and reinvested his profits into other companies. Now, he spent most of the time here—alongside Titan.

I checked in with his assistant then waited to see him. If this were anyone else, I wouldn’t be waiting in that lobby. No one ever made me wait. If Diesel Hunt ever stopped by, you took the meeting instantly. You stopped what you were doing, knowing my presence was something of a gift.

But Thorn made me wait.

No doubt, on purpose.

He stopped by my office like he’d been entitled to the visit, and now I was returning the favor.

His assistant finally led me into his gray office. He had black furniture and a black desk, his tastes similar to mine. There wasn’t a single item that countered his aura of masculinity. There wasn’t even a picture on the wall. He sat behind his desk, leaning back against his chair with his dangerous eyes on me. He looked affronted even though I hadn’t said a single word to him.

I took a seat, ignoring his hostility because my hatred for this man had ceased overnight. Every bad feeling I had toward him no longer seemed to matter. He won my loyalty and my respect the second Titan told me what he had done for her.

“Can I help you?” Thorn asked coldly. “If you’re here to discuss my future wife, a phone call would have sufficed.”

Hearing him refer to her so possessively didn’t even bother me. Not right now. “It is about her…but I needed to say this to your face.” I gripped the armrests as I sat in the tall chair, my legs crossed and my suit button undone.

His eyebrows arched.

“She told me what happened with Jeremy.”

Thorn stiffened in his chair, and his eyes narrowed in a menacing way. He looked like he wanted to stab me in the eye with his pen. “What did I tell you about that?”

“I didn’t ask her.”

“You expect me to believe she just told you?”

“She had a nightmare a few nights ago…so she explained where it came from.”

Thorn’s anger dimmed, but only a tiny bit.

“She told me he was abusive and he wouldn’t leave. And you were the one who protected her…and you were the one who killed him.”

Thorn didn’t confirm it, but he didn’t deny it either. He dropped one elbow on the armrest and placed his knuckles under his chin. He kept up his poker face, hiding every single thought from my knowledge.

“I came here to thank you.”

“Thank me?” he whispered.

“Yeah. You were there for her, you looked after her, you did the right thing…I would have killed that bastard too.”

He lowered his hand and returned it to the armrest. The ferocity in his gaze softened as he slightly cocked his head.

“I apologize for giving you shit all the time. If I’d known you’d done that for her…I wouldn’t have said a single word. You deserve my respect, so now I’m giving it to you.”

His expression softened even more until I was looking at a different version of Thorn. He wasn’t the ferocious competitor that didn’t deserve Titan. He was just a man, a human being. His suit and office no longer mattered. His wealth and reputation didn’t matter either. Now we were just two men who cared about the same woman.

“I just wanted to thank you for what you did. I’ll go now.” I rose from the chair and buttoned the front of my suit.

“I don’t know what to say, Hunt. I’m surprised she told you…and I’m more surprised that you’re standing in front of me right now. You’re thanking me for something I did before you even knew her.”

“She’s a good person. She deserves to have someone look out for her the way you did.” I didn’t want Titan to marry Thorn, but in the end, he was a good candidate. He was loyal and protective. When it came down to choosing a partner, she couldn’t find someone more committed.

“I’m glad you’ve finally come around.”

“I believe you earned my respect. That’s all I’m saying.”

“Even so, I’m glad you’re handling this so well.”

“Handling what so well?”

“That you lost.”

I hadn’t lost anything. When our three weeks were over, everything would be different. I was even more confident than I had been before. Now that Titan saw me as one of her closest friends, Thorn didn’t have much over me. “I haven’t lost anything, Thorn. I still have time.”

He examined me with suspicious eyes, his brain working furiously. His eyes shifted back and forth slightly, and then a slow smile crept onto his lips.

“What?”

He sat up straighter but didn’t hide his grin. “Nothing.” He came around the desk and extended his hand. “Since Titan is the woman connecting us, I don’t mind moving forward in a new direction. Perhaps we could be associates. And maybe someday…even friends.”

I knew there was something more behind that smile. He knew something, but he refused to share it with me. Unlike with Titan, I wouldn’t be able to pull it out of him with excessive questions. Thorn didn’t owe me anything.

I didn’t want to shake his hand, but I knew he deserved the gesture. I took his hand, and we both shook hard, gripping each other’s hand with iron-hard clasps.

He looked me in the eye and nodded. “For what it’s worth, I think you’re a pretty good guy, Diesel Hunt.”

“And for what it’s worth, I think the same of you.”