“That,” Ethan says, pointing to the screen and looking at me. “Is what happens when people try to fucking play Ethan Kane.”

Oh my God.

What is he talking about?

But Ethan doesn’t say anything else. He reaches over to the tablet on the coffee table and pushes some buttons and turns it toward me.

I get up, my knees on the couch supporting me.

I squint. It’s closed circuit television and it takes me a minute to realize…

Oh. My. God.

It’s Ethan’s office.

And that’s me. At his computer.

“Walter, his terminal looks similar to what we went through, but I’m going to need you to walk me through it,” I hear myself saying on the video.

I don’t know about you, hun, but I’m starting to get really worried every time I see myself on a screen. First it was whatever went on in Times Square. Taking a glance at the television, which is on mute right now; the crowds are chanting and celebrating and cheering and lining up to buy Illicit Escapes. Wicked Wear is most likely out of this market for a very, very long time.

It’s almost as if this whole thing were…

“Planned?” Ethan asks me, and I snap out of my reverie.

“That’s what you’re thinking, isn’t it?” he asks me with a smirk.

On his tablet, I look at myself furiously clicking at the keys and talking to Walter through my earpiece.

He knew!

He knew this whole time! And yet he kept me around. He knew I was betraying him as he made love to me. He knew my goal was to deceive him the entire time.

“Yeah, babe,” Ethan says to me. “That day I left the prototype on the table…I thought you’d take it to Simon,” he tells me.

“You played me?” I ask him, all my sorrow at deceiving him starting to melt away. “You’ve been fucking playing me the whole fucking time?!”

Yeah, I’m pissed. He’s been lying to me the entire time. While I’ve been falling in love with him and feeling sorry for deceiving him!

My hand raises up and I know where it’s going.

I’m going to slap that fucking smirk off his face right now.

And I would have too, if his hand hadn’t raised up and caught mine. With the strength of ten men, he pulls me closer.

“No, I don’t fucking think so, babe,” he says as he pulls me to him and I smell his cologne mixed in with his man smell and I realize that he’s won. “And yes, I fucking knew. But I had to make a decision as to what was best for you. And for us.”

He’s tamed me. The Man Chaser.

He pushes me against the back of the couch and presses himself on me. His mouth finds mine.

He’s rough, his hands running over my body, claiming what he’s won. What he owns.

That bastard!

I’m sorry. I can’t get over the fact that Ethan Kane knew this whole time.

That he let me make such a fool out of myself so he could have a laugh. Why would he do that?

This is all I can think about, but my body is already responding to his kisses, pressing up against him and kissing back as I find the nooks and crannies on his body and wiggle into them. My hand travels to his crotch and I can tell he’s already hard. A few good squeezes in, I let myself feel indignant again.

No!

I need to know one thing!

Pushing him off me slightly, I look at him.

“How long did you know?” I ask him. “And did you have to decide?”

Ethan is almost about to jump me again, but I see him think better of it and sigh.

“I knew you were somehow trying to steal the device from the moment you were in my office,” he tells me. “I didn’t know it was Simon till you told me. I knew it could potentially have been Simon, but I didn’t want to rule out maybe it was someone else. Maybe you were working for Arsen Hawke or someone else.”

I’m silent as he continues. “When you didn’t take the device and you actually brought it back, I began to think that you weren’t actually trying to steal on your own, but someone was either paying you or forcing you to do it,” he says and I nod. “Which is basically what you confirmed ten days ago.”

“And then?” I ask.

“I knew that eventually if you were being forced to do this, there might come a day where you’d have to fucking choose between yourself and us,” he tells me, his eyes deep and soulful and even through my anger, I can see full of love. He shrugs as he continues. “I didn’t want you to have to make that choice. So I made it for you. I prepared the Trojan Horse script that would stay hidden and only run upon command if needed. As it turns out, it saved us from each other.”

My head is spinning, babe.

I need to sit down.

To think of what’s going on.

How Ethan has just saved me from Simon. But I know you by now, and I know you’re wondering about Simon. He doesn’t seem like the kind of person that takes kindly to being made a fool of. He’s definitely going to retaliate.

All of a sudden the anger is replaced by fear.

Am I going to have to run again?

“Once you mentioned Simon, I knew exactly how he’d try to coerce you,” Ethan tells me as he picks up his tablet and turns on the video call option. He looks at me and smirks. “You might be interested to know that Cheryl is in California right now.”

My heart leaps up into my throat and Ethan recognizes the look.

“Yeah, don’t worry,” he says. “It’s not that hard to figure out where you used to live in California and that your agent was Robert McIntyre.”

I don’t have a chance to explain or even question because that’s when Cheryl comes on the screen.

“Hey there, Cheryl,” Ethan says with a cheery voice. “What’s the status?”

“Robert McIntyre never got a chance to see Today USA,” Cheryl says into her phone, her expression blank. She glances at me and even across the country, I can tell she’s sizing me up. Seeing if I’m any threat to Ethan. “He’ll never catch the reruns of what happened either.”

Ethan nods. “Do I want to know why not?” he asks.

Cheryl doesn’t answer. She just shakes her head.

There’s a moment of silence.

I don’t even know what to say. Is Cheryl saying that he’s dead? Did she have something to do with this?

“Thank you so much,” Ethan says and without any further ado, pushes the END button.

He looks at me.

“You’re free,” he says.

“Ethan?” I ask, going closer to him. The prospect of being free of having to look over my shoulder is insane. “What happened to him?”

“Sometimes porn is still a dirty fucking business, babe,” Ethan tells me, his voice and face serious. “If we don’t ask questions, we never have to lie.”

It sends a small chill. The power that this man wields.

But it makes me feel safe. Because with everything Ethan knows, and with everything it turns out he can do, what he wants most in the world right now…is me.

“Free,” I say to him, smiling.

“Free,” he repeats, pulling me closer. “It’s time to fucking celebrate.”

I feel his mouth approaching mine and I’m about to give in to him. To surrender to this man who seems to have tamed me.

But not so fast!

Ethan Kane has played me very well. That’s for damn sure.

“Ethan, wait,” I tell him, pushing against his chest with one hand. “One second.”

He looks at me, puzzled.

“What’s wrong?” he asks gruffly. I can tell he’s ready. He needs to be inside of me. And that makes holding him off even sweeter.

I mean, don’t get me wrong. I’m finally free. I want to celebrate by having filthy, dirty, sex.

But I can’t let him win on every single front.

“I have something to tell you as well that you don’t know,” I say, keeping a serious face.

He looks at me, backing up on the sofa slightly. I relish the moment.

Ethan Kane thinks he’s all that, does he? Thinks he’s so smart for pulling off this coup? Playing me?

Watch me make him crumble.

“I’m pregnant, Ethan,” I say to him softly. And then with a smile, “We’re pregnant.”

It takes literally a minute for the words to go from his ears to reflect in his eyes and then his face.

He smiles brightly. Then the smile transforms into a grin and there’s no stopping him – his arms are wrapped around me and he’s holding me close.

He’s hugging me. He’s kissing me. He’s kissing my neck. My earlobes. My face. My ears.

His cock is pushing into me.

“That’s fucking fantastic!” he says, pulling back. “Why didn’t you tell me earlier?” he asks.

I look at him as he asks again, “Why keep it a secret?”

Really?

I roll my eyes and shrug, using his own words. “I had to make a decision as to what was best for you. And for us,” I say.

He looks at me for a moment, digesting those words. And then he breaks out into a smirk.

“Alright then,” he says. “It’s going to be fun keeping you in line from now on.”

“Right back at ya, hun,” I tell him as we kiss.

Before long, his arms are pulling off my shirt and I’m undressing him.

It’s time to live freely. With the man I love.

For the first day of the rest of our lives.

Well, I guess I can do that.