Nine

 

LUCAS

 

“You’re coming home with me,” I mutter against her lips as I end the make-out session we’ve been having for the past ten minutes. Before I can second guess my decision to stop this, I quickly push her to a standing position. I gather up everything, including her, and head to the front of the store so we can leave.

The moment her taste was on my tongue I was addicted. I just didn’t expect the second time I tasted her that she’d taste as mine. The only reason I didn't take her right there on the couch is she’s a virgin.

And she doesn’t deserve to have her first time in a damn adult toy store office.

Reaching my truck, I gently pick her up and place her in the passenger seat before buckling her in and pressing a hard peck against her mouth.

“Mine,” I say against her lips.

“Lucas,” her sultry voice causes my cock to throb so painfully it wants to call out munity.

Jesus, this girl is going to kill me with her whimpers before I have a chance to fill her.

Ignoring the ache in my pants, I pull away and quickly make it around my truck and into the driver’s seat.

“What about my car?” she asks as we pass it on our way out of the parking lot

“It’ll be okay where it is.” My hand makes its way over to her leg. After what happened earlier, I itch to keep touching her. To make sure she’s really here with me. To make sure she isn’t dead.

Music fills the truck’s cab and my mind goes back over the whole night again. When Xander called telling me to get my ass to Dirty Players as there was an attempted robbery in progress, and Cara was in the store . . . I didn’t think twice about storming away from the meeting that I was in. It wasn’t like there was anything else we needed to do. The paperwork was finished, and I was now the owner of the store. When the call came in, we were just having a celebratory drink with the old owner.

I assume Xander texted Rhys what was going on, since he explained to Mr. Perez that there'd been an emergency and we’d be rescheduling the celebratory drinks. Just as I slammed my door to my truck, the passenger side opened and Rhys jumped in. Before his door even shut, I was backing out of the parking space.

The whole drive over I was silent as I listened to Rhys and Xander talk on the phone. Trying to figure out why someone would attempt to rob an adult toy store.

Fear of what I was going to find when I got there consumed me during my ten-minute drive to get to her. My gut tightened when I saw the police cars and ambulance in the parking lot.

But it’s her face that killed me the most. My girl should never have fear shining bright in her blue-grey eyes. And I was determined to find whoever put it there and kill them, eliminating any chance for them to do it again.

I just didn’t realize it would be tied to the Mexican mafia. The one that I worked closely with until I left the FBI.

Which is why I called Roman directly and not my contacts I still had with the agency.

If anyone would know why they were after Cara, it would be him since he’s the second in command of his family’s organization.

“Tell me about your family,” Cara murmurs beside me.

“There’s not much to tell, mia,” I start out. “My parents weren’t like others. They never went out of their way to make me feel special or loved. They didn’t abuse or neglect me, but they didn’t do anything more than what society expected of them when raising a child. They’re still alive; however, I don’t talk to them. Haven’t in years.”

Glancing toward her, there's sadness in her eyes.

“Don’t be sad for me—”

“You got a friend in me,” starts playing from her purse interrupting me. Anger fills me when she quickly snatches her phone from her bag.

“Sorry hold that thought,” she murmurs then answers the phone. “Mad Max, are you okay? It’s early where you’re at. Isn’t it like six a.m.?”

Hearing that name mixed with worry in her voice has my hand tightening around the steering wheel. As she fills him in on everything that happened tonight, my mind begins to plot all the ways I’m going to murder this Max guy.

Tie him to a chair covered in honey and surrounded by fire ants as I sharpen the knife that I’m going to use to . . .

“Lucas—you know the guy I told you about who’s taking over Dirty Players?” My name coming from her mouth snaps me out of my thoughts. I can’t help but feel smug that she told him about me. Maybe it isn’t someone I need to kill to keep away from her if he knows about me already. “I promise. Right now, Lucas is taking me somewhere safe.”

It doesn’t slip my attention that she didn’t tell him that place is my house, making my once happy thought turn right back to the next step I’d take in killing that bastard.

The moment she hangs up . . .

“I promise to text you the address when I get here and no, I’m positive you don’t need to take an emergency leave to come home.”

What in the actual fuck?

The hand on the wheel is now white from the deadly grip I have on it. Rage radiates through my body.

“I love you, too. Talk soon.” She hangs up the phone before leaning her head back and closing her eyes. “That went better than expected. I was expecting him to jump on the next plane, pack me up and move me to his house.”

“Who's Max?” my voice is so calm that I fear for how she answers. I know I’m barely holding back the demon that wants free inside of me.

“I have no fucking clue, who is he?” she murmurs back while rubbing her forehead.

“Don’t fucking play with me, Cara,” I snap and squeeze her leg again. “I’m talking about Mad Max who you've said I love you to at least twice. I don’t share. Nobody, especially Mad Max, will ever see your body. You’re mine and only mine.”

“I’ll tell you this right now, Lucas. If you’re telling me to pick between you and Mad Max, he’ll win every fucking time,” she yells as she slaps my hand off her leg.

Reaching back over, I stop when she starts laughing, confusing the fuck out of me as to why she finds this so funny

“He’s my twin brother. So I agree that there’ll be no sharing me in that way with him. We may share DNA, but incest isn’t something that’s in it.”

“Your brother’s name is Maddox, not Max, mia. And another fact, if he’s your brother, then why didn’t you tell him the safe place is my house.” With my hand that was still paused in midair, I wave at her and then snap my finger. “So, I’ll ask again, who the fuck is he?”

She just stares at my hand causing me to repeat the gestures.

“Cara,” I growl impatiently.

“Holy fuck. Calm down, Thanos.”

This girl really is made for me . . . I think as I chuckle at the Avenger’s movie reference.

“Mad Max is my brother, Maddox. I’ve called him that my whole life. I couldn’t pronounce his name, it came out as Mad Max and it just stuck,” she ends on a giggle, however, it doesn’t last long. I glance over and see confusion clouding her face as she nibbles on her bottom lip.

“What’s wrong?” I ask as I pull into my driveway.

“How did you know my brother’s name?” she questions right when I turn off my truck.

 

CARA

 

“So, you going to answer my question? How did you know about Maddox being my brother? And also, what my favorite meal is here? That’s downright creepy and a bit frightening if you ask me, Lucas,” I ask as soon as the waitress walks away.

After I asked him how he knew my brother's name, he suggested we go out for a late dinner. We drove to the next town to the Mom and Pop diner that serves the best breakfast food ever. I figured with the drive we would finally have a real conversation about how he knows so much about me, but he took over and asked about my reviews. After explaining and then playing one of them so he could see I really didn’t do live porn, he then asked me to play another one. As they played he kept smirking and glancing over at me while he drove. Finally, after the third one, I asked what his problem was.

“Listening to your voice, I just keep thinking of all the fun I’m going to have with you. Mia, get prepared to be redoing all those videos. Not only are your thoughts going to change . . . but I’m going to give your viewers a man’s take on exactly what I think of those items, and the pleasure I'm able to give you with it.”

After that, my mind had the worst diarrhea of the mouth moment I’ve ever had. I just had to ask him what fun he was referring to.

For the next twenty minutes, I squirmed in the truck as he told me every dirty thought. When I couldn’t take it anymore, I begged him to stop. He continued until I agreed to stay with him while they find out who was behind what happened tonight at the store.

His final stipulation was that I bring my toys, so we could start the new research . . . tonight.

I agreed since I needed answers to my question. What he doesn’t know is that my virginity isn’t going to be easy for the taking. His answers will determine if I run out of this restaurant screaming, or if I end up in his bed.

Now, we're waiting for our food as I sit and wait for him to tell me what I need to hear. And honestly, the only explanation that I can come up with on how he knows my brother's name along with my favorite meal . . . he checked into my background and studied my current patterns.

And that isn’t normal when I’ve only been around him off and on for two weeks now.

“You’re not going to accept I was just curious about my employees, are you?” he sighs, reaching for his neck.

I immediately recognize the sign he’s trying so hard not to show.

Nervousness.

And seeing it ripple across his body has my nerves starting to get on edge from whatever he’s really hiding from me.

“No,” I whisper. “One, I’m not your employee yet, so you shouldn’t have access to any records. Two, you shouldn’t know my current habits, and the fact that you do, tells me you did more than look at a soon to be employee’s file. Which brings me right back to point one, you’re not my boss, yet. So how do you know all that stuff?”

“There’s one thing wrong with that, I am your boss.”

“What do you mean you’re my boss? The sale isn’t supposed to be final this quick.” I’m baffled that everything was completed so quickly.

“Money talks, and I invested extremely well over the years while I was an agent. I didn’t have anything or anyone to spend it on, so I pretty much gave Rhys free range to take major risks and without fail, he picked well allowing me to have a nice nest egg. Actually, that’s a lie, it isn’t a nest egg per say. Let me put it this way, I have enough money that if our children didn’t want to work, they wouldn’t have to. So, having the advantage of money allowed me to rush the sale. As of last night, it’s final. That’s why I wasn’t watching . . . shit,” he trails off as I just stare at him.

Not only did he just say we’re going to have children together, he also pretty much stated he’s been stalking me.

This man is fucking mental.

“Watching what? Or should I really be asking who instead of what?” my voice is still nothing but a whisper.

Mixed emotions are flooding through me and I just sit there waiting for him to answer me. To make sure my thoughts are correct. That he’s been stalking me since that day he came into the store. Part of me is flattered that he wanted me so badly that he stalked me. However, there’s a part of me that’s screaming that I needed to run out of here, pack my shit, and move across the country to hide out at Maddox’s house.

And the second one was slowly becoming more of the right choice as I watch as emotion after emotion flash across his face. His eyes lock on mine as his mind slowly flicks through the answers he can give me.

“You,” he softly admits after a few moments of silence. “I wasn’t able to watch you like I normally do.”

He tilts his head back and takes a deep breath before forcing himself to meet my questioning stare. I can't stop myself from wondering how many other women he’s done this to, if any. If he has, is it a game to see just how quickly he can get them into bed? Like a challenge to get faster each time? He stalks his victims, so he knows how to impress them. Then when he finally gets them into bed, he can just use them while he gets intel on his next victim or like now, she finds out he’s a fucking psycho?

I’ve read too many dark romance novels.

That damn Cassia Brightmore and her Lincoln Hospital series has me thinking of all sorts of crazy shit.

My diarrhea of the brain is just as bad as my diarrhea of the mouth.

That last thought should make me laugh, at least on the inside. Instead, tears well up in my eyes, since I now can’t get the thoughts of him playing a game with me out of my head. How I’m just some number that he’s added to his list.

I’m just thankful I stopped him from taking my virginity in time.

Warmth surrounds my hands and spreads up my arms. With blurry vision, I glance down to find the source, and I stare in shock at what I find.

His hands wrapped around mine.

My body floods with desire as I continue to just stare at our hands. Confusion starts to filter in and I can’t understand why I still want him.

It doesn’t matter if you think he’s crazy. You care for him, you idiot.

“When I told you last night I was obsessed with you, I wasn’t joking. Didn’t it seem odd that I was able to buy the store the day after I saw you working there?”

Well shit, now that he mentions it . . .

“It was for me?” I force the words out around the knot in my throat.

“Yeah, Cara. You. I knew there had to be a way to get you out of that store. I don’t want the girl that I knew was for me working there. No, just listen,” he cuts me off and I nod for him to continue. “I don't have some sexist notion that women can’t work. Or that I want to keep you at home to do my bidding.” He pauses and smiles slowly. “Even though I’d love that. You round with my baby, taking care of the child we have already . . .” he trails off and glances down at my stomach for a moment before glancing back up into my eyes. “We’ll get to that in a second. I don’t want other men seeing you without a wedding ring on your finger thinking they have a chance with you.”

Fingers squeeze mine and I realize I’m beginning to shake as I listen to his explanation. Still unsure how I’m going to accept the information he's spewing out at me.

“Mia, I’m not good with words. Or flowery shit. I don’t really know how to wine or dine women. I’m an asshole and I've never hidden that from anyone. But for you, I’ll try.” His chest expands, and I can’t help but take a moment and watch as his muscles ripple with each deep breath he takes before he finally continues with what he was telling me.

“I don’t even deserve to be in your presence, let alone in your life as your man. But I’m too damn selfish to allow anyone else that chance. If that meant buying Dirty Players so I can make sure my future, as in wife and children future, was secure then you’re damn right I was going to do it. If it meant getting said future’s background checked, so I knew what I was up against, then yeah, I did that too. I wasn’t taking a damn chance with that future, Cara. Which if you haven’t figured it out yet, you’re that said future. You’re mine and I won’t let you go, no matter what.”

“Girl, if you don’t claim that man, then I’m calling free game. I’m ready and willing to have a man like that,” our waitress announces from beside us holding our plates.

“As much as that’s a kind offer, nobody but my Cara will do for me,” he replies not taking his eyes off mine.

“Damn, it didn’t hurt to offer at least. Here you both go. You need anything else?” Lucas and I shake our heads, gazes in a lockdown on each other’s.

As she departs, I go over what he just said. How crazy he sounded as he told me just how much he stalked me. How much he knows about me, but I barely know anything about him.

“And you should know I really mean you aren’t going anywhere. I not only will be your husband one day, and soon if I have my way, but I’ll be the father of our babies.”

Holy fuck me, he didn’t say that, did he?

“Please say something, mia.” his voice is low, fear evident in his tone.

I swallow against the lump in my throat and think about what he just said. Now that he's explained, even if it’s a bit crazy, I can’t help but imagine us sitting on a porch watching as our sons play in the yard . . . I can see clearly him holding my hand as we enjoy the day and our little family. Warmth spreads through my chest and I can’t hold back the tears anymore. It is a reminder of what I’ve known in the past. Of what I’ve wanted to feel again. It is a feeling of belonging.

What I’ve been missing for two years . . . hope for a future.

My gut starts to burn now that the picture is in my head . . . I want it. I want exactly what he’s saying.

“I want to have your babies.”

My eyes close as my head falls forward.

Lord, just kill me now.

“God can’t kill you just yet, Cara. Apparently by that statement, we have babies to make,” he winks, letting me know that I didn’t keep that last thought in my head.

“And the idiocy keeps coming . . .” I murmur between the thuds of my forehead hitting the table.