My nightmares were always the same, almost as if to mock me, reminding me that there was no escape. No way to turn back the hands of time and get my family back. Instead, I was forced to walk through my family home, time and again, stepping through the pools of blood as I screamed, my face and body covered in blood splatter, my family dead all around me.
But this time, I wasn’t alone when I was startled awake by my own cries.
I was with Locke.
“Hush, love…I’ve got you.” He cradled me in the safety of his arms, rocking me back and forth as I choked on my sobs, tears streaming down my cheeks. “It was just a dream…you’re safe.”
But it wasn’t a dream. It was my nightmare of a life—a nightmare I’d never get to wake up from.
Nothing could bring back my parents and sister.
Locke ran his hand down my back, trying to calm me as I struggled to slow my tears. “I know it was just a stupid dream, but…”
“I’m sure it felt real. Dreams…nightmares…they have a way of doing that.” He kissed the top of my head as I tightened my hold on him, burying myself against his side as if he could somehow make my nightmares disappear—which was insane, given the whole reason I was here.
Yet, none of it seemed to matter at the moment when he was here to chase away my demons, making it far too easy for me to forget all my problems, especially when we were tucked away in the mountains away from Seattle.
Except for the little fact that he and his family were the whole reason my life had gone to hell.
Suddenly feeling panicked, I sat up out of his arms and leapt out of bed, the full moon streaming through the large windows offering me enough light to make my way toward the door. “I need to go. I’m sorry…this has all been a mistake right from the start.”
I should have never started this.
For such a big, muscular guy, he moved damn quick and was at my side before I could make my escape, grabbing my hand and pulling me to him. “Em…it’s the middle of the night. You’re just shaken up from your nightmare—and that’s to be expected after all you’ve been through. But running…that won’t do you any good, love. Especially when you don’t know who’s out there looking for you.”
He cupped my face in his hand and bent his head to mine, the intensity between us unlike anything I’d felt before—and I’d be damned if I could push him away, even if I knew I should.
“Then give me a reason to stay, Locke…please.” I hated how desperate and emotional I sounded but I needed him to erase my nightmares. And if anything, what better way to get him to trust me?
“Sweetness…” He caught my mouth in a tease of a kiss, and then another, pausing in between as if giving me the chance to stop him—not that I could, even if there was a part of me that knew I should, no matter what my plans. Because there was no denying that there was something between us, even if it was fueled by my hate and misguided motives.
I deepened our kiss, telling myself that this would put me in a better position to get the information I needed, to get him to lower his guard and let me into his life and his family’s. And yet I knew that, at the moment, it was nothing but a lie…that I was desperate to escape from my life and Locke was offering me the perfect distraction.
Before I could take things any further, Locke was breaking away from our kiss, his breathing heavy and his body tense, while he bent his head to mine. “You’ve been through a lot, love…”
“Which is exactly why I need you to distract me from my problems.” Maybe it was a mistake. But at the moment, I didn’t care. I wanted to shut away my real life and pretend that anything was still possible. That I could have almost any life as Emie—and frankly, I didn’t care if I was being delusional.
“Em…are you sure? Because I’m not sure I’m going to be able to resist you and do the honorable thing for long.” His voice was gruff and deep with need, which only made me want him all the more. And in the dark of night, it was easy for me to push away any reservations I may have.
“I’m sure, Locke. I need you to distract me… I need you to make me forget my problems.” Even if he had no clue what my problems truly were.
Cupping my face in his hands, he brushed his thumb over my lips and then kissed me, his tongue clashing with mine and sending a shiver of need through me as my body came alive. It’d been so long…but even then, I couldn’t remember anyone ever having this sort of effect on me.
He backed me up against the wall, his hard body pressed against mine, making it impossible to ignore his massive erection. I was desperate to feel him inside me, especially when he raked his teeth down my neck, pulling a needy groan past my lips.
I gave myself to him, to this moment, forcing myself to let go of my past…to forget my heartache and the whole reason I was here. And as he trailed bites and kisses down my neck, he made it damn easy for me to lose myself in him. “I need more, Locke.”
“Anything you want, Em…” He kissed me again, his tongue sweeping over mine, breaking away just long enough to pull my top off while I tugged his T-shirt up over his head.
One piece after another, our clothes were hastily discarded, as if we were desperate to feel the heat of each other’s bodies, pressed skin to skin. With his mouth hard on mine in a hungry kiss, his hands drifted down to my ass and lifted me up off my feet as if I weighed nothing, his hard cock plunging into me bare, my body impaled on his steely hard length as I gasped.
It’d been so long and he was so big that the mere size of him nearly had me coming. Holding onto him, I wrapped my legs around his hips and bit his neck as he backed me up against the wall, thrusting into me with a primal grunt.
“Fuck, baby…you feel so good. I wish I could take this nice and slow for you, but…”
“Just fuck me, Locke. I’m not looking for you to be gentle with me.” It was the only way to distract me from my problems, and the fact that I was fucking the man I was supposed to hate.
“Whatever it takes to make you happy.” He pounded each thrust into me, pinning me between his muscular body and the hard wall. And though I shouldn’t want him even touching me, I loved the feeling of being trapped and at his mercy.
The energy of my orgasm started to build as our kisses grew more fervent, my legs tightening around his waist in rhythm to his thrusts so I could take him deeper—and just like that, it was enough to push me over that razor’s edge.
My cries filled the quiet of the room as my orgasm tore through me, his name but a whisper on my lips.
“Locke…”